


Spirited Away

by 4Takao



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angels, Demons, Different Dimention/Another World, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-17
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-04-24 04:37:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 45,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14348091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/4Takao/pseuds/4Takao
Summary: Somehow, a lower demon accidentally bound their world to the human world. Takao was caught in it, and there, he met the non-human Kiseki. He actually didn't mind either going back home, or stick there for several days, but he wants to change his usual boring days.... is what he thought.Comments if you have any kind of ideas, I will gladly change my story~Oh, yes, I should mention this. This happens during their Middle High School. They didn't meet each other yet~





	1. The beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my third work of KnB... It's just somehow, when I started writing the first one, ideas flowing from everything I did... And please, everything is about Takao hehe gomennasaiii~~~

There are nothing big in his ordinary middle high school life. He joined a basketball club and everything, but none of them deeply interested him. Personally, he wanted something more troubling, more tempting, like maybe just a partner… Not literally a friend, he has too many friends, but he wants someone that he can trust truly, someone he can sticks to and have fun in their own way.

…Just kidding.

'His own thought are nothing, they won’t change anything', Takao thought while continues on with his walk towards his home. Today, is another boring-daily day.

~~~

He blinked several times. Unsure on what had just happened, he looks around. There are… bushes, trees, plants he had never seen before, and automatically, he can feel the deadly aura menacing everywhere. He dare to not touch anything. In fact, he can’t even breathe properly!

“Ack… ha…! Ah… Nghh…!!” his bag dropped. He clenched his teeth, heart feels like it’s going to explode. He needs air, a fresh air… but he can’t seem to breathe at all! That was the moment when he realizes someone’s approaching him, someone white, pure, fighting the dark aura.

He seriously don’t know what had happened, what is happening and what will happen. But, it only takes him a mere second to finally give in with the darkness.

~~~

A sweet scene lingering. The peaceful birds chirping. The pleasant feelings as he lied on this comfy bed… wait, bed?

He sits up immediately. Looking around, he can only find all-white background. White, pureness are everywhere, he can feel he is sanctified.

‘Wait… just wait a damn minute. Let me think. I am about to go home, I am about to, yet I don’t remember walking inside this large, pure white room. This, is definitely not my room. This, is absolutely nowhere near my house! Where is this? Am I kidnapped?!’ thought him thoroughly. What happened actually to him being here?

Then, he realizes a single figure, sitting on a chair, doing something- maybe writing or reading, not far away from him. The light blue hair man didn’t facing him, making him so wide-opened for any sneaky attacks. Not that he would, though.

“Err, sir? Uhmm…” Takao started to gain the other attention. He stops doing whatever he is doing, and turns to face Takao. His face is expressionless, like he has no emotion whatsoever. Takao didn’t notice this before, but the man in front of him right now really defeats any kind of seductive woman he had ever see. He is wearing a light blue haori kimono, his hakama is almost white, with a long, beautiful necklace.

“I was right, you are special…”

“Huh?” he could swore he heard the guy saying something. He definitely said something, even motionless he is, he did says something! “Err, pardon?”

The man, then gets up from his sit and approaches Takao, who is dumbfounded with the beauty. The pure-looking man still saying nothing, sits besides him. Takao is still confused by this situation, he can’t say anything, until one idea pops into his mind.

“Wait, am I spirited away? I have a feeling that this isn’t my world… just kidding.”

“Why, you are right,” the man look at him. He smiles a little, while the Hawk Eye, shocked by the new news.

“I am?!”

“Yes, it seems that one of the lower demon tried some mantera and you caught the spell. Thank goodness it wasn’t something serious or you will be bound with this world forever,” explained the pure white man. He takes a glance at Takao, who he expected to be frightened and terrified that he is definitely in another world. However.

Takao seems excited by it. “Woah, cool! The school are actually in a holiday, and my holiday starts with being spirited away. I mean, I heard that we have different dimensions, but I never know that they were true!”

“You… are not scared by it?” asked the white.

“Scared… I guess I am a little, but above all, I just want to explore things before I get back,” laughed Takao. Charmed by the easy-going-character, the blue-white man laughs a little too.

“Ah, but I must say, you really define the word ‘beauty’! I though you were a girl,” Takao continued his talking. The guy only smiles at this, thanking Takao for saying so. “I am a goddess, Kuroko.”

“A goddess?!” shouted Takao, in surprise. “I am Takao, Kazunari Takao. Nice to meet you, Kuroko!”

“That reminds me, please have this,” Kuroko suddenly then hands him a bottle of pills. Takao takes it, staring into the transparent little bottle. “This pills allow you to be able to breathe in this world. Do not lose it, as others will use it the wrong way.”

“Yes, I got it,” Takao said confidently. “Do I need to take it daily?”

“Yes, I gave you around an hour before. So for the next 23 hours, you can rest assured. But don’t forget to eat it tomorrow. You will face a great danger if you don’t.”

“I knew that I smelled a human’s scent. Oi, Tetsu. Where did you found that thing?”

“Ha~ This is not good, Akashicchi might not be happy with this.”

Takao and Kuroko turn to the front door. There are Aomine and Kise, staring fiercely at Takao, the newcomer. Each step they took, Takao could feel the air became heavier, and harder to breathe. Their menacing aura too, seems too evil for the pure, white room.

“Aomine-kun, Kise-kun, I am not pleased with what are you trying to do,” suddenly, Kuroko broke the silent. His face remains poker, but Takao could feel a sudden chill on his spine. Kuroko really is not happy with the visitors. Takao turns to look at the said guys.

They too, seems unhappy when Kuroko stands for him. “Tch, did you forget what happened the last time you saved a human?! I am not going to let it happen again!”

“Kurokocchi, just hand over the human. I will alter your memories of him if you don’t.”

“Kuroko, am I not invited here…? Should I just come home?” Takao interrupted, Kuroko looked at him. He shakes his head in disagreement.

“To be honest, humans are not allowed in here. This is my territory, only the high-class demons could enter as they pleased,” Kuroko said sarcastically, making Takao laughs while the other two frowned.

“Hey, we just wanted to protect you!”

“And, I said that I am not pleased with what you are trying to do. This human is special, he is different from other humans.”

“What makes you said that? This is really unexpected,” grumbled Kise, not happy when Kuroko is angry at them.

Kuroko turn his look at Takao. “You could check him if you want to. All of you devils could check if he actually hiding something, but he is the first human to notice my presence.”

“Huh? You kidding…”

“Have I ever lied to you?”

“We- Well, then let me see! After that only, I will approve he coming here!” Aomine drops his evil aura, and in the blink of an eye, he appears in front of Takao and Kuroko. Forcefully, he pulls Takao's face to look into him in the eye, and for a moment, they all wait patiently.

“Err… I am sorry, but could you please tell me what are you doing right now?” Takao asked, so unsure what to do at the moment. He stares at the demons’ appearance. They all wear some kind of blazer with a split tail, both are in a similar yet, different style. Aomine’s are not that strict, he lets loose his buttons and all. His shirt is dark blue, while the coat is black all the way to the slack. Even his horns, tail and nails are dark blue, almost navy if you look at it properly. 

Then, in disbelief, Aomine lets go of him. “You are right. I didn’t see any dangerous greed in him. He really is called here without any intention…” he mumbled slowly, only could be heard by Kuroko himself. “Kise! Your turn!”

“Eh~?! Seriously?” whined the guy before he walks slowly to Takao. Unlike Aomine, Kise wears his outfit properly, maybe too professionally -he almost looks like a butler. But his demon horns are yellow, even his tail and nails are.

Contrarily of Aomine’s, he gently forces Takao to look him in the eye. Again, Takao just let the said demon to do whatever they please. And again, Kise seems shocked and lets go of the guy.

“You… you are one weird human! Why don’t you have any stupid lust in you?!”

“Eh? But I do. I mean, I have lust for girls and…”

“But you don’t really feel anything towards them! I checked if you are interested in guys too, but you have nothing particular interests in sex!”

“Hey, that’s somehow feel rude!” Takao said, pouting. “Who are you guys, anyway? The other talked about greed, and you talk about sex. How should I counter this…?”

“Oh, pardon us,” Kise smiled widely. “I am the devil of Lust. You humans have so many words for us, the seven deadly sins, demons, devils, satans. We are everything of that, but my speciality are lust.”

“I am Greed, the actual name is Aomine,” Aomine said simply. Takao couldn’t help but laughs at the difference.

“Well, my name is Takao, a mere human,” he giggled.

Kuroko nods. “The lower demon tried some great spell and connected the boundary of our world. He seems to be caught in it.”

“Just great. Who was it? I shall give them a great lesson to try doing so again,” snarled Aomine. He stares at Takao, who looked so defenceless. A mere human, so weak too. But how could he notices the goddess’s presence like it was normal?

“Do you perhaps are some kind of supernatural being or something?” he asked out of the blue. Takao shakes his head in reply.

“I am but an ordinary human. I don’t have any kind of powers, if that’s what you mean,” he said. Aomine didn’t say anything to it, just continues staring without blinking. Kise on the other hand, still puzzled by how lack Takao is towards one of the greatest sin, the lust.

“Huh, well I see nothing dangerous in you, so you might as well live here,” stated Aomine before turning around. He honestly was worried and came to check on Kuroko’s safety. But everything is fine and all, so he wants to continue his work. He did came down without mentioning it to anyone else.

“Ah, but no, thanks. I can’t stay here forever, I have my life too.”

Aomine turns around again. “Then, want me to send you home right now?”

“Nope! Kuroko promised me to show me around after this.”

“What?!”

“Kurrokocchi, you can’t walk around without any of us with you! It’s super dangerous!”

“Then, do one of you want to join us?”

Aomine’s face and Kise’s glittered in stars. They nod in hurry, doesn’t care of their actual works are waiting for them. Heh, screw that.

“Then, tomorrow morning, please come here,” Kuroko smiled softly.

“Eh?! Not today, like right now?” Kise’s mood dropped in disappointment. “I wanted to run from all of those works too…”

“That’s why I said tomorrow, you can reschedule and come here,” Kuroko turned to Takao, who is watching everything without saying anything.

“Tch. Ma, whatever then. I will come here tomorrow, wait for me, you hear that, Tetsu?!” Aomine shot a glare at him. Kuroko, unfazed by the scary stare, only smiles and nods. Then he walks away before disappears in piles of black smokes.

“Hmm~ If you are still going to then, I will escort you too! Don’t go anywhere today, alright Kurokocchi?” he waves his hand before he too, disappears in dark smokes.

And just like that, the atmosphere returns to it’s original form -pure, white and calm. Kuroko looks at Takao, who is actually staring at him too.

“They came and went like a storm, right?” Kuroko smiled. Takao laughs hearing that.


	2. A Little Vacation~?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys~!! Your comments made my day~ I got several ideas of who to put in what ngehehe  
> But, the Kiseki will always be powerful in whatever dimension they are, right? Hmm...
> 
> Anyway, enjoy this chapter~

Takao looks in awe. He observes every single movement Kuroko made, from the moment they woke up until now, this second. Kuroko wears his Haori, again, but today he wears the light pink one. Surprisingly, even if the colour is girlish and lady-like, it suits Kuroko perfectly. Actually, that’s a no wonder, isn’t it?

“As expected from a goddess,” smiled Takao, he suddenly confused by Kuroko’s actual gender. Last night, they spend it with a long, great chat without anyone interrupting. Takao was shocked when Kuroko told him that he himself didn’t know how did he ended up here, getting protection from the devils, not from someone on his 'side'-the Heaven, maybe?

“But, actually,t he devils protect me from the sins they carried, and they took care of me ever since I could remember.” That was what Kuroko said to him last night. Takao somehow got the idea why Kuroko is so purely white, like having no colour for himself, while the other devils have. It’s because their colors have merged too perfectly in Kuroko, making him all white, or they protected him too much, leaving no colour other than white itself.

“Okay, Takao-kun. I have finished dressed up myself, now it’s your turn,” suddenly Kuroko said, while reaching out his hand, expecting something. Takao looks at him, confused. “Hmm, what?”

“Give me your clothes.”

“Eh?! No, no, it’s okay. I don’t need to-”

“I want to wash them… so you can wear mine in the meanwhile.”

Takao gulped deep down in his heart. This is something that he realized from the late night talk. Kuroko is actually pretty stubborn, he do things with his own pace… Means, Kuroko won’t back off unless, Takao do the thing Kuroko wants.

“Okay, okay, I get it. But can I take them off by myself, please? This somehow feels embarrassing…”

Kuroko nods, leaving space for Takao to change himself. He takes Takao’s uniform to the back side of the ‘house’ and puts it into a bucket. In a blink of an eye, the clothes are clean of any kind of stain, even dirt. He was about to hang the clothes outside, when Takao suddenly called for him.

“Yes, Takao-kun?” asked him while he took a peek to the main room. There, Takao seems struggled to put on the obi, which is supposed to be under the hakama.

“You haven’t wear this outfit, Takao-kun?” Kuroko asked while smiling. It’s been a while someone is asking for his help. Being protected by the devils, he can’t make friends with any other being, almost like a solitude and that makes him lonely. So when Takao depends on him like this, he felt happy.

“Ah, well… In my world, we didn’t wear this outfit unless we had a special event, maybe festivals… or a wedding. Usually, I only wear shirts and trousers, like the one you took. But if it’s summer, sometimes I’ll wear kimono too. The easy one,” Takao rubbed his head. In this world, they all wear the same thing like in the Human World. But none of them wears shirt and trouser like he did.

“I see. Well, it’s okay if you depend on me a little,” said Kuroko while patting Takao’s back. He’s done.

Takao laughed before turning his body to face Kuroko. “Thanks. I will be in your care now, Kuroko!” Kuroko, who seems a little shocked by that, smiled happily to him. “Ah, but let me drain my clothes! I want to do something too! It’s not fair if I let you do all the works.”

“Well, that’s…”

A knocked on the main door, surprised the guys. They both look at the door, before Kuroko gives it a ‘come in’. Then, from the outside, the door creaks opened and Takao sees a different figure, different than yesterday’s visitor.

“Kurokocchi! As always, you look stunning! Takaocchi too! Ahh… I wanna cuddle you both…!” squeled Kise, jumping at Kuroko and Takao, to hug them both as he said. Takao seems surprised at first, remembering how the devil reacted yesterday, but when he looks at Kuroko who remains his poker face, he just giggles.

“Ne ne, Kisecchi, who’s that? That’s not Aomine from yesterday, isn’t it?” Takao asked, barely moves his head. Kise then realizes that Takao hasn't meet the purple yet.

He laughed at Takao. “Of course! That’s Murasakibara, the devil of Gluttony. He eats and eats and eats.”

“Na, who’s that, Kisechin… I never see anyone here other than Kurokochin…” the man outside said. He stays outside, and Takao can only see his body because of the height of the door. He really is a giant. That’s some height he has. But from his point of view, their outfits are the same too, some blazer with a split tail, and the giant’s colour is purple.

“Oh yes, I didn’t mention him to you yet,” Kise pulled Takao’s and Kuroko’s hand to get out of the room. There, Takao can finally see the true form of Murasakibara. “He is Takao, an ordinary human. He got caught up in one of the spell yesterday.”

“Eh~ can I eat him then?”

Takao holds his laughter. Kise is right. He only thinks about eating.

“Murasakibara-kun, he is my friend. Please don’t eat him,” Kuroko said, making Murasakibara turns to him. “Ah~ Kurokochin, long time no see. I see that you never grow, as usual.”

“I am sorry that I can’t grow any taller than this,” Kuroko shot a look at the giant. Murasakibara on the other hand, just giggles and pats Kuroko’s head. “Don’t be mad~ I miss you~” And Kuroko smiled at him.

“Oh, Murasakibara, are you hungry, by any chance?” Takao asked. Murasakibara turns to him again, nodding. “Eh... But you just eat before we went here!” Kise pouted, unbelief in his appetite.

“Then, please wait a moment,” Takao said before running lightly into the house again. The other look at each other, wondering what the human intended to do. Even Kuroko didn’t know anything. After a while, Takao popped out again. His face is always like that, happy and excited.

“Here, a snack from the Human World. I bought this yesterday and I didn’t eat it after all the ruckus. Kuroko, you remember I asked about my bag, right? This is why,” Takao smiled again. He shows Kuroko what’s inside, which has a few books, and the rest are junk foods.

“Eh?! That’s not fair! I wanna eat that too! Takaocchi, you have another?” Kise pleaded, feeling unfair that Murasakibara has all the attention. Takao nods and gives him the same one as Murasakibara’s. He even gives Kuroko one too.

“Well, you can say that this is my thanks of you guys for leading us today,” said him. Kuroko nods. They eat it peacefully, without anyone arguing, leaving Takao thinking for a moment. Then, out of the blue, he asked the devils.

“Do you devils, have wings like the rumour?” Kise and Murasakibara look at each other. They think for a second before nodding yes. Takao’s face then glows with joy. “Woah, cool! Can you fly with those wings?” Again, they nod. “Then, can we travel using those wings?” They stopped eating.

“That’s a good idea, Takao-kun. Unlike them, I can’t fly, so it will be fun for us,” Kuroko agreed. Takao nods in excitement. “Right?!”

“But Kurokochin… Isn’t it more faster to just use the magic like usual…?” Murasakibara raised a question, which Kise would if he didn’t. Kuroko looks a little bit down hearing this, but only Takao noticed it. Kise well, is busy considering which is better.

“But, Murasakibara, the view from the sky is so fun, don’t you think so? I never fly, and Kuroko hasn’t for a while now, so can we please use those wings of yours?” Takao pleaded, don’t want to give up. “And there might be things that we can see just from above, you know?”

“Hmm… well, I don’t mind to, because I like Takaochin,” Murasakibara nods again, agreeing with Takao’s idea. Then, he realizes Kuroko’s face lightened up a little. “Kurokochin…?”

“Well, if you agreed, then I don’t have any problem either. It’s been a while we did some patrols too,” Kise smiled, assuring. Takao then takes Kuroko’s hand and high-fived him. “Well, Kuroko, we can fly now!” he said, excitedly. Looking at them both, Murasakibara and Kise couldn’t resist the urge to smile for them.

~~~

“Woah~! This is more fun than I imagined it would be!” Takao shouted in excitement, to fight the air. Murasakibara holds his hands when they are flying, while Kise holds Kuroko’s. Kuroko smiled at him. “Yes,” he said, trying to fight the air’s momentum too.

“Did you guys find anything different though, Murasakibara? Kise?” asked Takao. They both nods in agreement. “The view is somehow different than what I remembered... I will send a team to check that area after this… Ah… so much works…” Murasakibara whined, sighing how much works will he has after this.

“Yeah, it’s wiser to send a team. I might have extra works tomorrow…” Kise too, in a serious tone.

Takao giggled. Kuroko had explained him to details that the devils are someone superior here. They have their own areas, some sort like a country too. They have rules, despite being a rule-breaker. They don’t have a rank though, just somehow manage to work together. But all of them agrees on one thing. Akashi, the devil of Envy, is their leader.

‘I only met Aomine the Greed, Kise the Lust, and Murasakibara the Gluttony. That leaves Sloth, Pride, Envy, and Wrath… I wonder how are they…’ Takao thought while enjoying the air and the scenes from the sky.

Meanwhile, at the Greed’s territory, Aomine is pouting while doing his works. He hasn’t slacks off at all, as in front of him, is Momoi Satsuki. The girl devil looks so angry, only staring at him, didn’t utter a word. Aomine sometimes took a glance at her, wanting to check if she is tired or such. But every time he do, the girl still glares at him.

“Geez, Satsuki… Stop it, will you? I only want to go for a while, then I will be back…”

“No way! Dai-chan, I would give you the free time, if you had only finish your works yesterday! I received a report saying you were nowhere to find for a half of an hour. Not to mention, you didn't do anything at all after that! Where did you go, and what did you do?!”

“I told you, I had an emergency! Uh… if it isn’t because of this, I would have fun already…” Aomine rested his head on his desk. So much documents, so little of time.

“Ah! Don’t rest!! Mou, Dai-chan, do your damn work!!” shouted the girl. Aomine didn’t care, he still rests his head. His mood today is fouled because of his work… Ugh, it was frustrating too, to ask Murasakibara to go to Tetsu’s in his place. They must have fun right now…

“Dai-chan!!!!!”

"Ah.... dammit."

~~~

“Hey, we went to various places already, aren’t you guys tired?” whined the yellow devil. He just wants to take a good rest before they continued. It’s passed after midday already, he can’t stand the blaze. “Let’s rest for a while…”

“Now that you mention it, I do feel sluggish…” Murasakibara takes off his buttons. “It’s a little hot today…”

“Ah, yes… Let’s take a rest.”

“Hmm, guys, don’t you have some cool place here?” Takao asked, wiping his sweat. The other three look at him. “Means?” Takao shrugged his shoulder. “Maybe… a pool, or a waterfall?” Then, in the same time, they all smiled brightly. “Well, there is a pool, but I don’t think Takaocchi can stand it. It’s dangerous for a human. So, how about we go to the waterfall?”

“You do have them?!” Takao is surprised.

“Well, there are various of them… which one do we want to go?”

“The nearest?”

“Nah… there might be a lot of demons there…”

“Then, our waterfall, then.” Kise grinned meaningfully.

“Yours…?” Takao asked, do not understand the right Kise used. Kuroko nods with a smile.

“When we were still kids, we used to travel together, a lot. Then, once, we came upon a waterfall which no one had really found it yet. After that, Akashi-kun made the waterfall as ours fully. Since then, no other demons can find it, let alone go there.”

“Ne… let’s just go there already… I am sweating a lot!” Murasakibara sulked again, when he can’t stand the sluggishness anymore. The sweat are making it worst.

“Yes, yes. Let’s go there~”

~~~

The birds chirping; the sound of the water falling down, knocking the rocks beneath; the green atmosphere, the fresh air… and even, the scenes of Kuroko and Takao splashing water at each other, Kise couldn’t ask for anything else- this is Heaven itself!

“Kisechin, do we have any watermelon here? I am hungry…” Murasakibara called for him. Kise turns to him. “Watermelon? Hmm I don’t know, how about you search for it and I cut it?”

“Okay~” Murasakibara went into the forest. He would do anything to get his food. Meanwhile, this waterfall surrounding really feels like a tropical island. It’s a miracle they found this place before anyone else did.

“Kise~!! Come join us!” Takao called from far away. He waves his hand in order for Kise to notice them. Kuroko nods too, calling for him. Well, after they arrived earlier, they all took off their clothes and washed it for a while. Now the clothes are hanged to drain. Given the heat here, it will take only a little while for it to drain.

“Yes~ I’m coming!” replied Kise while standing. He just wanted to dive into the water, when Murasakibara throws fruits to him. “Ow! Murasakibaracchi, what was that?!”

“Kisechin, you liar! You said you wanted to cut it for me!” Murasakibara was ready to throw another one, when Takao called for him. “What?!”

“Eh~ What was that? Is that edible?” Takao asked, ignoring the tone Murasakibara used. Murasakibara can’t be angry anymore too, when he looks at Takao’s happy face. “Oh right, Takaochin is not from this world… This is fruit, even a human can eat them.” Kise and Kuroko on the other hand, just watch them without saying anything. Takao is really special, to be able to turn the angry Murasakibara down, and chat like usual… not even every demons could do that.

“Woah, seriously?” laughed Takao. He hold the said fruits and examines them. “They all look weird for me, but whatever. I will eat them with you.”

Kuroko smiled softly. “Just wash them and you can eat them raw. Oh, but that watermelon there, we need to cut it.”

“Watermelon?! Where?”

“Hm? There, the one Murasakibara-kun is holding,” Kuroko pointed at the purple’s hand. The fruit, which is seriously big, as wide as Kise’s chest, is coloured red and orange. It isn’t striped, but it has polca-dot on it. “Is it different than Human’s?” he asked.

Takao nods eagerly. He looks stunned by it, but then he laughs it off, as usual. “What the heck is that?! Hahahaha it’s so big! How much can you devils eat, seriously?!” He laughed again, before he went to wash the other fruits. While he did that, the devils and the goddess look at him in silent.

“Isn’t he special, Kise-kun?” Kuroko smiled. Kise nods. “That kid sure knows how to deal with us, even if it was the first time he meet another being other than human,” said Kise, dumbfounded at how carefree Takao is.

“Yeah… And he don’t have so much appetite to eat anything too. My sins can’t deal with him…” Murasakibara commented too. He look at Takao’s bag, which is full of junk food, Takao said. The human told him he can have it, but not every thing. “Anyway, I like him. He’s good.”

Kise laughed hearing it. “You took a liking at anyone who gives you food.”

“Oh, he’s coming,” Kuroko said with his usual emotionless face. Takao comes to them like he said and the human giggles when the others are actually waiting for them.

“Here, eating time~”

~~~

“I am sorry, Kuroko. I still don’t know how to wear this by my own…” said Takao, feeling guilty as he asked the goddess to help him with the clothes again. When Kuroko taught him earlier, Takao couldn't see the proper steps to do it. Kuroko shakes his head. “I don’t mind, I am glad I can be any use to you.”

Takao shook his head. “You can’t say things like that… I am sure the others just don’t want to bother you…”

“Well, they did leave me alone for a while… I didn’t say anything as they might be busy with their works.”

“Na, Kuroko. How much is that ‘a while’?” Takao asked, just curious. When he recalled Kuroko’s house, it fulls with Kuroko’s colour. There haven’t any other colour, like he really was left alone for a long time, not just a while.

“I guess it’s 10 years ago? Why?”

“10…. 10 years?! For human, that’s not a while! How old are you?!” Takao turned to him. Kuroko remains poker as usual, but Takao realizes some sadness lingers in the goddess’s eyes. "Kuroko, you..."

“Guys~ are you done? We need to get home before dawn,” Kise’s voice reached them, making Kuroko and Takao didn’t say anything else on that matter. “Well, let’s get back home before they said anything.”

“Well, do you want to fly again, Kurokocchi?” asked Kise, feeling excited to hold Kuroko again. Kuroko was just about to answer him, when he noticed Takao staring at one point, without blinking.

“What is it, Takao-kun?” asked him. Takao, only shakes his head. He looks like he tries to focus seriously, and that leaves the others puzzled.

“I… thought I saw something… no, maybe someone there for a second…” he said. Kise and Murasakibara then, immediately leash out their aura, startling Takao to the point he shudders in frightened. “Guys- What, what’s wrong?!” Kuroko embraces him, knowing that for a human, this little energy might be too heavy for their life force.

“He’s right, Kisechin… There’s a lost soul there…” said Murasakibara before turning his evil aura down. Kise did the same too. That’s when they realize Takao is still shaking in fear. “Oh, crap. Sorry, Takaochin… We just, err… sorry… Don’t be frightened of us…” Murasakibara apologized in panicked. They always do that- unleashing their aura to sense another demons’ or maybe person’s life energy. He likes Takao, even though sometimes Takao can be annoying (he can’t stop talking, that’s Takao for you), but Takao is the first human who is not scared at them, and even gave them snacks. Delicious snacks.

“Nah… it’s alright. I just realize how powerful you guys actually are,” he smiled, gaining his usual posture back. Murasakibara sighs in relief when he saw that smile again.

“Well, you guys stay here, I want to check who is that,” Kise said in a serious tone. While he is gone, Takao turns to Kuroko. “I thought you said Akashi did something, like marking this place?”

Kuroko nods. “It’s true. And it is supposed to remain ours as Akashi-kun has become much more powerful than that time.”

“But,” Murasakibara said, “That spell only works at demons, and any other life being that is lower than us, unless we ourselves give the permission to do so... That spell didn’t works on human, even lost soul…”

Kuroko nods. “That’s why you and the lost soul Kise-kun is looking for right now, can enter this place.”

“Guys!” Kise’s voice called for them. They look at him. “What should we do with him?”

Kise is carrying a passed out lost soul, as they all said. He, had a short dark blue hair, wearing a usual shirt from the human world. There are bruises all over his body, and he is frowning like he is in pain.

“He looks delicious…” is what Murasakibara first said, breaking the silent they had. “But an injured soul always leave a bitter taste... So, I don’t want him.”

“Uhmm… we can’t leave him here, right?” Takao asked, actually worried that Murasakibara will seriously eat the guy. Kuroko shakes his head.

“Well, other lower demons might eat him, and that will be the end for him. Kise-kun, could you perhaps take care of him?” Kuroko asked.

“Eh?! Why me?!!” he responded, as he really don’t want anything to do with any other human. He has so much works already… I don’t want to be burdened by a child!

“I am sorry… But I don’t know how will he reacts if he is with me… And I can’t possibly ask Murasakibara-kun to do so…” Kuroko stares at the injured child in front of him. Well, Takao won’t actually said it is a child. From the appearance, and the well-build body, Takao dares to say it is a 16 or 15 years old human.

“Hmm… well, if Kurokocchi asked me so, then I will do it,” Kise reluctantly gave up. He carries the lost soul to one place, and then he sighs a little. “Then, I will go home first. Please be safe,” he said, obviously not happy with the new task, before disappears in the black smoke, like yesterday.

“Ne, Murasakibara,” Takao called. The guy turns to him. “Do you like the snacks that much?” Murasakibara eagerly nods at him. “I never eat something you called junk food. That’s delicious~”

“Eh? Then, usually what did you eat?”

“I don’t know either. My cooks serve it for me, I never ask.”

“Eh… That’s not nice, isn’t it?”

“Huh?” Murasakibara shot a look at him. Takao, not effected by the glare, only smiles innocently. “Well, isn’t it a looot nice if you at least say thank you to your cooks~? They must want to know what did you think of their cooking too.”

“Eh… what a troublesome thing…”

“You can at least try,” Takao grinned. It was like talking to a spoiled brat. Even though the said guy just showed a bit of his power to him a minute ago, Takao doesn’t care.

“Ugh… Alright, I will try… If I remember though,” he turned to Kuroko, who is watching them for a while now. “Kurokochin, do you still want to fly?”

“No, it’s okay. We can just use your magic, Murasakibara-kun.”

“Then, hold my hand~”

~~~

“Thank you, Murasakibara~ Come here again if you want to play!” Takao waves his hand energetically. Murasakibara sighs, getting dizzy with the human’s enthusiasm. “Seriously, can’t deal…” he mumbled.

“Please be careful on your way home,” Kuroko said. He smiles a little when he saw how tired Murasakibara is with Takao’s energy but still, he can’t just ignore the guy too. This is funny.

Murasakibara just ‘hnn’ him before he uses his magic too. Now, leave Kuroko and Takao again, both are tired from their activities today. “Thank you, Takao-kun.”

“Eh? For what?”

“You asked them to use their wings so that we could spend a longer time with them, for me, isn’t it?” Kuroko pointed his finger out. He smiles a little when Takao didn’t say anything, just smiles at him.

“Who knows~ But you are happy now, hm?”

Kuroko nods. “I am. So much already, that I am scared if I deserved this happiness.”

Takao laughed again. “What was that?” he asked, not wanting an answer. He then asked if Kuroko had something that he can cook for dinner. Kuroko then replied that everything outside is edible, as long as Takao didn’t pick the poisonous one.

“Eh… that’s dangerous. Please help me, Kuroko~?” Takao asked. His face actually turns pale when he thought he will surely, accidentally pick the non-edible one.

“Well, I don’t eat much actually, but I can help you with the ingredients,” smiled Kuroko. Takao then just grins a little before resting his body for a while. He is exhausted, somehow. “But, Kuroko, you will surely want to eat after I cook it!”

“Well, who knows,” replied the goddess before lying down besides Takao.


	3. Everything about the Devils!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys thank you~!!! I am so happy that everyone likes this story ngehehe Yosh, I will work harder!  
> Again, if you have any scene you want to happen, please comment~
> 
> Oh well, have a fun reading time~

Murasakibara looks around. There are nothing particular interests him. That’s because in this large room, there are only things that should supposedly help him with the documents and such. But works are too much for him. He usually only do half of them, if his mood is good then three quarter of it. He never finishes his work completely. It’s too troublesome.

“You can actually try.”

That words suddenly ring inside his head. As annoying as the human is, when Murasakibara thinks about it, what he said was true. He remembered he was cautious about almost everything when he was a kid. The adults around him didn’t give him much attention, just wealth and names. From the very moment he was born, he was expected to be the Lord of Gluttony. There were so many times when he thought he did something wrong, yet the adults never say anything, so he never actually thinks about saying thank you, or even sorry.

‘What a troublesome thing…’ he sighed while walking towards the door. “But this might be better than just laying around inside that sick room…”

He walks and walks without any destination in mind. Actually, he was thinking of where did his meals come everyday. The kitchen? But he has so many kitchens in this mansion, each to serve him and his people. Is he supposed to say thanks to every cooks? Uwah… no way, that’s stupid and troublesome.

“Then… where did the ingredients come from?” he wondered. Normally, he stops walking as he didn’t have any single clue. What…. seriously, I don’t know where they come from. I might have been too ignorant about this kind of thing… hmm…

Just then, he notices a servant passing by. She wears apron, dresses like a maid, and bows to him when she is about to pass by him. “Uhm…” he called, stopping the maid. She immediately turns away, head still bowing, not looking at him in the eye. “Yes, young master?”

“Where did my meals everyday come from?”

She blinked. “Pardon, young master? If it’s about your meal, then the kitchen…”

“No, I am not talking about where it’s cooked. Where did the ingredients come from?”

She blinked again. For a second, she seems to be lost in thought, but then her face lightened up. “Do you want to meet the farmers then, young master?” Murasakibara thinks for a while, then he nods. She continues, “If that’s so, then allows me to show you the way. It’s a bit far from here.”

“Sure.”

Then they walk a really, really long way, Murasakibara actually starting to wonder why the hell his mansion is so big. He is starting to feel anxious about this idea and wanted to stop the maid, when suddenly the maid said, “We have arrive, young master.”

“Eh? This is the back door…”

“Yes, the farmer live, and work behind this door. We servants of the house are not allowed to step any further from here, so if young master wanted to meet them, this is as far as I can show you.”

“Eh… I never know about this…”

The maid smiles cheerfully. “This rule was made from the very first Lord of Gluttony. Now then, young master, please excuse me.”

“Oh, wait.” She turns around again.

“Thank you,” said Murasakibara, determine to show his gratitude from now on. Well, Takaochin is right. He can at least tries to say thank you.

The maid, shocked by Murasakibara’s new attitude, can barely hide her overjoy expression, smiled happily. She bows her head again before she walks away. Murasakibara too, was surprised that the maid would shows him that kind of expression, felt something warm in his heart. “I never know saying 'thank you' can make others happy…” he mumbled, slightly blushing, pleased with this new experience.

Without wasting any moment, he opens the door, and at the other side of the door, he could see a new world, different than his. There is a large village, dirt and soil everywhere, beefs, lambs, cows, chickens, the vegetables and every possible ingredients are here. Each and every of it.

“Wha… Young master!!” an old, lower demon spotted him, and quickly bows his body to him. Murasakibara flinches a little. “No, wait…”

“Young master!”

“It’s Atsushi-sama!!”

“Quick, bow you head!”

Murasakibara stepped backward. He can’t stand being the centre of attention. This is not what he thought will happen… this is a big mistake. With that in mind, Murasakibara turns away. Without further second, he slams the door, leaving the lower demons puzzled by his actions.

“Err, guys? What are you doing?” a young strong lower demon who had just arrived there, approaches one of the bowing lower demon. The old demon turns to him, puzzled. “Hi… Himuro! There… Just now, young master came, so we all bow to him. But it seems we have done something wrong, he ran off.”

“Young master? Why did he come here?”

“We don’t know ourselves… He looked like he was about to say something, but…”

Himuro smiled. “It’s okay. I will try to find him. Please continue with your works.” The older demons nod their head. Going back to what they were doing earlier, each seems guilty, as they felt like they really did something big.

“Now… where could young master ran off to?”

~~~

Murasakibara crawled up. This is the worst feeling he could feel right now. He just wanted to say thank you… he forgot his status and how everyone should act whenever he is around. A world of the Lord which, full of masks.

“Young master…?” a knock is heard. Murasakibara immediately stares at the door, not wanting anyone to come any closer. This feels suck. Slowly, his aura fills the entrance. Even from the person at the back of the door should be able to feel the weight. However, after a while, the knocking continues.

“Young… Young master, please stop that... The older demons are affected by it! We can’t even breathe properly… please.” the voice is so sincere, like they were really in pain. Only then, Murasakibara seems to realize his aura, and immediately seals it again.

He quickly runs to the door, opens it, and out of the blue, a young, slick, black hair demon falls to him. Murasakibara cannot react fast enough, they both stumbled to the ground. “Ow…. ugh… Young master, you alright?”

Murasakibara, still a little bit dizzy on what was going on, only nods silently. The young demon, looks a little bit like a female, smiles happily. “That’s good… I really don’t know what should I do if you are actually scratched or something.”

The demon sits up, but he can’t move properly. Murasakibara notices that, and grabs the demon. “Are you hurt…?” The demon looks stuttered, he wasn’t expecting this. “N-no. I am fi- woah!”

Murasakibara cuts him off by carrying him princess-style. The Young Master's face looks a little bit unsure, but still he felt like he was responsible for this. He watches around and realizes the other lower demons are looking at them. Murasakibara turns to the demon he is carrying. “Where is your house?”

“Eh, no, really young master…”

“Where is your house…?” he repeated, frowning. The demon, actually worried what the young master would do, gives in and tell him the direction. It is a small, wooden house, located at the back of the village, and behind it is the thick, large forest. Murasakibara actually thought it is a toilet or something… not that he said it out loud.

“Thank you, young master,” the demon smiled awkwardly. But Murasakibara can feel the honest feeling of saying thank you. “I… actually I came here…” he mumbled, do not know how to explain things.

“Yes?”

“Err… I want to thanks the people… who takes care of the ingredients of my meals everyday…” he said, actually stuttered as he didn’t know the right words for this. “So… thank you.” And he disappears in the black smoke.

Himuro blinks several times. He stands there like an idiot for a while, until some of the earlier older demons approach him. “Himuro…! What happened? Where is young master?”

He smiles widely. “He is one weird young master…” he giggled. “He wanted to say thank you to us for working hard all this time. That’s why he came. Now he is gone though.”

“O.. oh? Is that so? That’s the first…” commented one of them.

“Y-yeah. This Gluttony Lord actually is the first to come here and say something like that…”

Himuro smiles again. “Well folks, let’s work and give the kind young master the best ingredients the world has!”

~~~

Aomine looks at the guy who is laying on his sofa. That guy came suddenly, without going through the front door even. He sighs deeply. “Oi, Murasakibara! What did you come here for? Go back to your playground or something.” Aomine puts his documents aside. It’s not often for that purple giant to come to him, at least not alone. “Something happened?”

“Ne, Minechin…” called Murasakibara, still not facing him. “Takaochin is weird.”

“Haa…?”

“You see, he is a weak human, yet he got along with us like we are nothing. At first, I felt the urge to crush him to pieces…”

Aomine smirked hearing this. “What did you feel inside him?”

“Nohing. Almost like a lonely soul, but his interest are not that big…”

“Right, the same thing I felt. That’s why greed cannot apply to him.”

“Eh… that’s weird. I felt like Gluttony won’t work on him too.”

KNOCK KNOCK

“Come in,” Aomine said, leaning his back to his chair. Murasakibara shuts his mouth too, wanting to know who could it be. The door creaks opened, and Midorima comes in. “Eh… I actually have two unexpected visitors here, what the hell…”

“Hn. As usual, your only use vulgar words,” the green walks towards him. His black blazer and green shirt beneath him looks so smart, like he didn't really moves around at all. The green takes some documents and went through every paper of it. “Momoi said you have the documents I need -nanodayo. It’s about the Human World.”

“Ah. That one… there, on the right shelf,” yawned Aomine, feeling tired of hearing another word of ‘human’. He took a glance at Murasakibara, who actually is thinking the same thing as he is. “Na, Midorima. What do you think about humans?”

“This is unusual. You, asking foolish questions to me,” is what he replied. Aomine shoots a glare, wanting to fight back, but Midorima turns to him for a minute. “Humans are nothing but sinful creatures -nanodayo.”

“Eh… then, if we were to find a human, who don’t have any interest on anything, what will you said then?” Murasakibara said. Midorima faces him then. “That’s not normal -nanodayo. They are created to have interests. Where did you found it?”

“I will tell you,” Aomine grinned happily. “You see, Tetsu saved a human, and we all noticed that he does not have any bad interests in his heart. Even Kise said so!”

“Kuroko did?!” Midorima stops checking the document. This topic seems interesting. “And you guys let the human be -nanodayo? What should we tell Akashi if he was attacked again?”

“Didn’t you hear, Midochin? Our sins cannot affect him easily. Unless we seriously focused on him, or we lose control.”

“That’s…”

“Really, you can tell this to Akashi. You guys should visit him once in a while, his room is getting whiter and whiter," yawned Aomine again. “I want to take a nap… don’t let Satsuki come in.”

“Wait, I want to know more -nanodayo.”

Not noticing that a figure is standing in front of Aomine’s door, they discussed about this human again. The said demon is standing, his tail moves around, showing how happy he is. He can’t help it, his smile is widening. Adjusting his spectacles, he hums. “I should have a little fun…”

~~~

“So, Akashi-kun, that’s it from the Wrath territory,” Momoi said with a satisfied smile. The Lord of Envy nods and asks her to sit back to her throne. They are currently doing the each-two-months meeting. Today, as he ordered, everyone came and discussed about the news or problems that rose in each sins. “Teppei, nothing happened as usual?” he asked. The Lord of Sloth shakes his head, smiling as usual. “Nope~ Nothing extraordinary happened at all.” Akashi nods again. The same answer each time he asked the Sloth. He turns to Murasakibara. “Atsushi? I thought you had something to say?”

“Ah… yes. The past few days, I actually flew to our waterfall. The view from the sky has changed, so I sent a team to explore the forest. I found something there…” explained him, then gives every one a sheet of paper.

“This is…” the paper is full of pictures like a village, ‘people’ fighting and above all, that’s not a demon.

“They found a hidden beast village there, my team was beaten up thoroughly, but they managed to send me a few pictures,” continued him. “I honestly wanted to crush those beast, but my men said I need to tell you first… So, can I?”

Akashi shakes his head. “No, if they didn’t do anything to oppose us, we can’t just casually pledge a war on them.”

“But they beat my men!”

“Atsushi, your men might be at fault too. You know yourself how violent your men are,” Akashi said, giving his final words. “And it’s rare for you to fly on your own.”

“No, I am with Kisechin…” he mumbled, actually wondering if they need to tell Akachin about Takaochin. He glanced at Minechin, who is wearing his bored face.

“Ryouta?”

“Yes~ Ne, Akashicchi, I want to tell you something. Actually, Murasakibaracchi, Aominecchi and Midorimacchi already know about this. Kurokocchi saved a human,” he said cheerfully. Akashi’s and Momoir’s and Kiyoshi’s eyes widened in shocked. "WHAT?"

“You see, we actually worried if history will repeat itself, so we looked into the human’s eyes. Surprisingly, we found nothing dangerous in him, and he seriously didn’t feel anything towards Kurokocchi.”

“Eh~ this is fun,” commented Kiyoshi. "Usually, those humans will turn to beasts for Kuroko."

“Oh, and Tetsu mentioned that Takao noticed him even if Kuroko didn’t do anything.”

“Eh… Is that Takao not a human actually?” Momoi asked. Aomine shakes his head. “Nah… I confirmed it already. It’s just that his field of view is not like any other human. Other than that, he is a human.”

“Interesting. I want to meet this Takao. Shintarou, you come with me. Teppei?”

The latter devil shakes his head. “Nah, I will pass.”

“Absolutely -nanodayo.”

“Eh… I want to come too!” said Momoi, puffing her cheeks.

“No, Satsuki you go with Ryouta to explore the beast village. I need the real situation, to know if they are actually planning something or not. Shintarou, meet me here before dawn. That’s all, dismiss.”

“Dai-chan! I need the pictures that I sent to you yesterday!” Momoi shouted, as she realizes Aomine is about to disappear in his black smoke. He actually have something that’s bothering him. Before the meeting, he wanted to meet with Imayoshi, his right-hand man. But the demon is nowhere to find. And now that the meeting is over, he really need to check on the demon.

He walks slowly at the hallway. They are no one here, like he predicted so. But the demon he is looking for, always come from unexpected places. Just when he was about to give up on that area, he heard some voices. Those are his servants. Chattering happily in the middle of the day? That’s brave.

He is about to approach them, when he heard the topic they were talking about. Immediately, he seal his presence, so that they won’t notice him.

“You heard about it? A human made his way to our world and now in the Young Masters’ hand. Poor him, they must have savaged him already.”

“Eh? I heard something else. The Young Masters are actually protecting the human, he lives with the goddess.”

“Eh?! Seriously?!”

Aomine glared at them. ‘Words sure travel faster than the wind…’ He could actually stops this conversation, but he needs to be patient.

They continued, “And then, this morning, someone saw Imayoshi-sama standing in front of Young Master’s room. He was smiling evilly!”

“Seriously, no one is actually more evil than him, huh… Eh- Eh?!! Young Master?!!”

Aomine stares at them. Everyone in the mansion could feel his deadly aura now. The servants earlier, couldn’t even move their body, their head feel like it was about to be hanged. They can’t even plead for their life, as terrified is controlling their mind and body. Sweat all over their body.

“Hey,” he began. “Did what you said is true? Imayoshi actually stood in front of my room this morning?”

“Ye- yes, young master! If what our friend was saying was true, then of course-”

“Shut up. Now get back to your work.” he seals his aura again. In a blink of an eye, those servants fall to their knees, gasping for air. It feels like they were born back to life. Meanwhile, Aomine walks away, still feeling enraged, controlling his aura to not leaked out. In his way to the main door of the mansion, he meet with Momoi, face is worried as hell.

“Dai-chan! Is everything okay?!”

Aomine passed by her, ignoring the Lord of Wrath. She is still worried, but she didn’t say anything. It has been a while for Aomine to show that face, for him to be so mad as to leak his energy to every corner of the big mansion. Even Momoi, who is at her own mansion could feel it. What happened?

“... I’ll be back.” was what Aomine said before he uses his black magic again. Momoi heard that, and with just those few words, her heart is at peace again. “I’ll be waiting then,” she muttered slowly.


	4. Encounter After Encounter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I write this one a little longer than I anticipated... I don't know... do I?
> 
> Enjoy~

Takao looks around. He heard a bell, echoing inside him, calling him to go outside. He is called. But by who? He glances at the door before watching Kuroko again. The latter is peacefully sleeping besides him, soft, comfy blanket covers his whole body until his chest, while Takao, reading he is, only covers his bottom. Today he wears his uniform again, after a little argument with the stubborn Kuroko. Well, he don’t want to trouble Kuroko again to help him wear that complicated outfit…

Again, the urge of being called is getting annoying, and Takao is about to finish the last chapter of his book. “Mou… who is it?! Why didn’t they came in like they usually do?” mumbled him, irritated. Slowly, (doesn’t want to wake up the goddess now, do we?), he walks to the main door, book still in his hand, he takes a peek outside. But there is absolutely no one. At least, he can’t see no one.

Still the same scenery, greens and vegetables he never sees in his world before, yet actually taste quite the same as in Human World. Kuroko, being bored, planted those tasty ingredients without actually wanting to use it. So now his front looks like a garden of edible plants. A huge one.

“Really, I wonder why these sins are not working to you…?” a voice echoing in the woods. Takao, being alerted, takes a glance at Kuroko. Still sleeping, good. He leaves his book in the house, as the book is actually Kuroko’s. Takao is a very reasonable man, you see? After that, he walks outside, in the middle of nowhere, and because he can’t see where the ‘enemy’ is hiding, he just looks straight in front of him.

And then, he heard the sarcastic laugh. Takao frowns in disgust. “Seriously, this is getting annoying. Who are you? What do you want with Kuroko?” Then, he heard a rustle sound, from the bushes around him. Knowing he was being toyed at, he ignores them. “Ufufu, you are really funny, it’s been a while I saw a human, too. You are really special, you know?”

Immediately, Takao felt the air around him getting crushed, like the gravity is pulling him to the very deep of the Earth. But, he is not the type to give in easily. Fighting back, he still looks around, wanting to find where the enemy could be. Sure, this is tough. But he had felt those Devils’ and they are a lot heavier than this…. which means, “You are not one of the Devils. Who are you?”

“Clever! I didn’t know you are that close with the them.” A ‘man’ stepped out of the bushes from his right. Quickly, Takao adjusts his gaze at the demon, actually sensing the bloody killer intention from him. “You see, I just want to play with you, as I don’t have anything important to do anymore,” he said. Then Takao realizes that the demon is not an honest one, but still he is dangerous.

“Bluffed. You are a sly one,” he said. Wrong move, as Imayoshi focused another wave of his energy on him then. Takao then falls to the ground, all four, but he is still not giving up. He shoots a dagger at the demon, determination all over his eyes. “You… Why can’t you just lay on the ground, this is more painful,” Imayoshi said, getting closer to the human, then bends down, eyes on him.

“Why should I listen to the demon who is toying with me?”

“Hmm. True, but-”

“Imayoshi-san!” a voice interrupted them. Imayoshi and Takao both turn to the light blue, almost white house. As if it’s a natural thing to happen, Takao then is saved by the torturing wave. He gasps for air, feeling like his lungs are destroyed, and his mind is getting dizzy, he still can’t stand straight. “Why did you do that?!” Kuroko ran towards them, of course, hugging Takao as he wants to protect the poor human. He now stands between them, making Imayoshi smiles wider.

“Every one of you… hmm,” he mumbled, actually wanting to get away from there now, but he could feel someone’s energy from their back. “Oh-oh. This is trouble…” he stares at every corner of the woods he could see, expecting someone to come here and grab him out of the way. But then, the aura actually disappears suddenly, making him more nervous than ever. “Er.. Aomine-kun…?”

“So you actually knew that I know you came here,” a voice from his back, startled the demon, which is a rare sight. Aomine appears behind him, grabbing the head, and bow -actually forces Imayoshi to bow together with him, and then Aomine stands up straight, still forcing the older demon to bow his body.

“I am sorry for any trouble my man did. I’ll give him a real damn lesson after this.”

Kuroko shakes his head. “It’s not me you should bowing your head for, Takao is-”

“No, no, seriously I am okay! You guys worry too much, Imayoshi -is it? Imayoshi only-”

“That’s some clever one you wanted to cover. Those energy, might be not as strong as ours, if focused on a human for too long, will drained your life and that will take you to your grave,” snarled Aomine, wondering why the hell the human said those things. It’s obvious what Imayoshi did.

The other two didn’t say anything to fight his words, so he lets it be. Then he pulls his right-hand man’s hand and helps Takao to stand up. “Here, I give you a little of mine. You should be able to breathe and stand properly now.”

The human laughed. “Hehe, yeah thanks!” Kuroko then smiles a relief. He was worried.

Kuroko stares at Takao who is still casually joking with the demons, not caring to be scared even a little at all. Aomine too, looks like he likes Takao enough to lent him a little of his own energy. Imayoshi keeps his sly face, like he didn’t do anything bad at all. That demon really doesn’t reflects on what he just did, does him?

~~~

“Woah… what the, Aomine’s?” Kise stares straight at some point, knowing that the energy came from that direction. Even if their energy is actually around the same, but when one unleashes their energy uncontrollably like this, the other Devils still waver. And they all could know whose aura is that. He is about to get out from Akashi’s main mansion, well the meeting is over, and unlike a certain person, he doesn’t want to just puffed into a black smoke.

“Kisechin~” Murasakibara called from him. The giant walks lazily, like usual, but he stopped Kise from walking any further. “What is it?”

“Ne, why didn’t you tell Akashi about the lost soul…?”

Kise smiles at him. Murasakibara then, or any other demon could notices that the beauty’s eyes actually change their looks. A lot more threatening. But that was only for a second before he gains his usual self back. “Well~ I forgot!”

“Haa…”

“Yeah, really, I forgot about it completely!” the yellow laughed. “But Murasakibaracchi, you see…”

Murasakibara stares at him. His face is as bored as ever, while Kise’s is as dummy as hell. He continues, “It’s not like we are required to tell every single thing to our Emperor.”

‘So you want me to keep quiet about it too…’ Murasakibara thought, before walks away. “Kisechin is scary after all… makes me want to crush you.”

Kise laughs again. “What is that?” then he canceled his earlier plan and uses his magic to disappear too. After that, in a blink of an eye, he appears in his own mansion. Not any word escapes from his smiling lips. Not even any maid or servant stumbled upon him, making him feels all alone in the magnificent mansion. Then, after a little walk, he arrives at his own main room.

“Wo-woah! Who- what are you?!” the voice echoed inside the room, making Kise flinches a little. He is frowning. The soul inside is scared, Kise can see he is trembling. More like it is trembling. He then, face all moody, just ignores the soul and walks towards his bed, which is towards it. “Wait wait, don’t come any closer!”

Couldn’t stand it any longer, he snapped. “Shut it, will you? This is my mansion, my room, my world, and you -a lost soul should be glad that I actually saved you from being eaten and dead!” Then he lays his body on his large bed, actually besides the frightening soul. This is why I don’t want to have anything to do with human. They got scared easily, like they are the only being who is actually living in the whole universe!

“You… you saved me?” asked the soul, blinking unbelievably, still staring cautiously at the devil laying besides him. “What… what are you? You have horns, tail… You are not human, right…”

“Geez, and after I asked you to shut it, too! I am tired here…” Kise mumbled in frustration. He glares at the soul, asking himself to be patient and all. “Look, it was Kurokocchi who asked me to save you. You are a lost soul now, and this is a non-human world. Seriously, how could you be here, is a mystery to me as you should be lost in another dimension, so don’t ask me that. And yes! I am not some lowly human!”

The soul blinked for several times. His matured mind understands every single thing the Devil in front of him was saying, but his heart is not that kind to let the Devil said the human is a lowly being. He just wanted to fight back, seriously he would, but he realized that the Devil is not in his best condition. “Shit… whatever,” he muttered, frustrated too. Kise heard this, and immediately sits up.

“What did you just said?! Oh my, is Takao the only good human out there?!!”

“I am not talking about you! Seriously, I thanks you for saving me!”

“Like I said, I didn’t save you because I wanted to…”

“Still, you saved me. I am grateful for that,” the human bowed his head to Kise, making the Devil dumbstruck at what just happened. He thought that the soul would be violent, all cursing and such but now he is being polite? Just what kind of soul are you…?

Without realizing it, Kise himself is blushing from the embarrassment. Why did he got all worked up… the lost soul just wants to thanks him… He will tell this to Kuroko and Takao later. “You… You’re welcome then…”

The lost soul blinked again. “What the, you can be cute too,” he laughed while ruffling the Devil’s hair afectionally.

“Hey, not the hair! Geez, it’s messy now!” he pouted, doesn’t like it when his perfect hair is all messed up now. But then quickly he fixes it, so it’s actually not a big problem at all. “Anyway, human, what is your name? I am Kise.”

“Kasamatsu Yukio.”

“Yukicchi then!”

“What?! No, don’t call me with that stupid name!”

“Yukicchi, you can only be inside of this room. You don’t want to be eaten, right?”

“You are not listening at all!!”

“Listen,” Kise stands up. He walks to his mirror, eluding from the pillows that Kasamatsu threw.

“You listen!” he shouted, enraged. He is being ridiculed by a Devil, what else he can throw other than pillows here?

“I actually tried to find information about you. Do you remember anything? Like something happened before you are passed out, or…”

Kasamatsu falls to silent. He tried to remember, but his head ache. Then he looks at the bruises all over his body, his right hand and his left knee are wrapped in white cloth. Must be the Devil’s work. “I don’t remember much… but I felt like there was a car, and I think it hit me… maybe.”

“Right. Please look at this,” said Kise, making a movement by his hand, to the mirror. In a blink of an eye, the mirror shows image, which surprised Kasamatsu a little but he chooses to say nothing. The images change from the view of the sky, looks like the Human World, then to a hospital, and then change to a white room. There, a group of people surround a bed, which Kasamatsu lays on it.

“What?! Is that me?” Kasamatsu wants to stand, but then he falls to the bed again. Kise sighed yet smilingly, he helps the soul to sits on the bed again. “You shouldn’t move around. Your body, which is in the Human World of course, are trying hard to survive. If you want to be alive even after this, then you need to focus on one thing, be alive again.”

“You can’t do anything about this?”

“I can’t. I am a Devil, not a Reaper. Unless you want to trade your soul with me, then…”

“No, thank you,” Kasamatsu glared at him. This yellow Devil sure did everything he can to stain one pure soul. “How long I need to be here…?”

“That depends on you. The faster your body recovers, the faster you will disappear from this world. The safer your soul are, the quicker you will be back home,” explained Kise while clicking his fingers, then the image on the mirror disappears. “I think the fastest is in another 3 days.”

“Damn, 3 days stuck here with nothing to do can be boring…”

Kise laughed. What an interesting human. He only thinks about things to entertain him, rather than his safety in the Devil of Lust’s room. “You can’t move too much too.”

“Ugh… real shit…” he lays his body, feeling tired by the sudden news. Kise smiles mischievously, slowly leaning on top of the soul, trapping him without any way out. “Kise?”

“Hey… aren’t you being too casual here? Did you forget I am a Devil…?” Kise’s hand reached for Kasamatsu’s. His face looks like a happy predator, yet Kasamatsu’s remain unfazed and stares him in the eye. “I can do whatever I want with you, and you can’t even fight back.”

Kasamatsu stares at him, sill unworried. “But you saved me. I believe in you.”

“Haa?” Kise’s eyes widened, surprised by the soul’s words. Kasamatsu gets up in return and pushes Kise to the bed in return. The situation now is reversed. Now Kise’s both hand is trapped by Kasamatsu.

“You actually are a kind Devil, if I may say. You won’t do anything dangerous to me.”

Kise looks at him, dumbfounded. A minute passed, then he laughed as hard as he can. Now it’s Kasamatsu who is unsure on what to do. “You… seriously, you are one interesting human!” Kise laughed again, making the soul wonder what is going on. “Seriously, I wonder if human these days are like you guys…”

“I don’t understand you at all. But Kise,” Kasamatsu called, gaining the Devil’s attention. “You are more handsome when you laugh like this. No need to put up those moody characters,” he smiled confidently, not knowing what his words actually mean for the Devil’s heart.

A moment passed, and still no reaction from Kise, making Kasamatsu feels awkward again. “Hey, are you actually okay? Now that I look at you clearly, your face is a bit red…”

“I need to go now, I have works with my companion…” suddenly Kise said, walking to the main door. Kasamatsu stares at him, still wonders how Kise really is. “Don’t leave the room,” he said before closing the door slowly. After locking it from the outside, Kise inhales a fresh air. The air earlier suddenly felt heavy for him, his heart was about to burst.

He bends his upper body, cannot stand the heavy feeling, staring straight at the ground, face red as tomatoes. “What should I do… This is bad…” he sighed again. This time, a really deep sigh, with a new problem lies in it. “He’s cute…”

~~~

They walk hurriedly towards the main room. The gripping hand is strong, leaving the pulled demon with no choice other than to follow the puller. But, his hand actually felt like it was being crushed rather than be pulled.

“Aomine-kun…? My hand is hurt here, can you at least loosen your grip a little?”

The Devil didn’t reply, yet tightened his grip even stronger, making the other flinched in pain. They arrived inside the young master’s room, Aomine locking it then pushes Imayoshi against the wall. “Ow! Seriously, it hurts!”

“You should look at Tetsu’s face when you toyed with Takao earlier. He was hurted more than you are.” Images of Kuroko’s relief face appeared in his mind. He realized that they have left Kuroko for a rather long time, and Kuroko was lonely all the time. Now that Takao is here for a while, Kuroko seems to be less alone. That’s why when Imayoshi ridiculed Takao, Kuroko was enraged, worried for his new friend. Aomine cannot stand that. Not when the white Kuroko made that face.

“What…? No way, you should grip his hand like you just did to me, and then you will see his painful face…”

“Imayoshi, I am not playing around. I wonder why didn’t you came to me these past few days… I guess you really want punishment?” He knew how Imayoshi finds things funny in his own way. Ridiculing other being, making fun of them and observing their reaction is how he do things. That's why when he heard Imayoshi was standing in front of his room this morning, which the moment when they talked about this Takao, Aomine knew immediately that Imayoshi will plan something. Something about Takao.

Imayoshi’s joking face disappeared. He fights Aomine’s serious face with his eyes, which actually waver in ocean of emotions. “This is not fair. You really deserves the title of the Greed Lord. I can see why you wanted to protect Kuroko, but now even a lowly human? What’s so special about him… when you could have any other demons, you loyally protected those two, even lent a human a little of your power!”

Aomine blinked in confused. “Ha…?”

“I am telling you that Greed defines you perfectly, or did you not understand -mppf!” Imayoshi is surprised. Aomine, cannot stand all the blabbers, seal his mouth with his own. “Mm! Ao-!” The tongue slipped inside. Immediately, he shudders in pleasure, Aomine’s skill is too much for him. That deep, tempting kiss feels sweet and leaves Imayoshi wonders how the hell things went this way. He wanted to look at Aomine’s face but the superior demon quickly makes his second move by taking his spectacles off and covers his eyes with the hand. The other hand which is holding Imayoshi’s now is at his neck, grabbing the latter to make sure he can’t get away.

Imayoshi, actually doesn’t know what is going to happen to him anymore, felt a tinge of scared, and tried to fight Aomine back. But of course, it’s useless. And just with kissing, his limbs are all weak, and he falls to the ground. “You…” he gasped for air, face blushed red, hair is now messy, hand covering his mouth which fulls of Aomine’s taste now. “What are you…”

Aomine, didn’t say anything, just crouching down and stares straight into Imayoshi’s melting eyes. “You talk too much. Did you forget? The only one who can beat me, is me.” He caressed Imayoshi’s face, brushes his hair to the back of his ear. “You asked me about Tetsu and Takao. Why do you think I chose you to be my right-hand man?”

“Eh?” the confused look on the demon’s face makes Aomine smirks in amusement.

“If it’s about works, I prefer Sakurai as he would do anything I wanted without any question. You on the other hand, is too much work for me to handle.”

“Then, why-” again, his lips are sealed. This time, a longer and deeper kiss makes Imayoshi’s usual stoic eyes change to a teary one. He really can’t do anything to fight back, not when Aomine focused on him like this. Helplessly, he clenches Aomine’s blazer, giving signals that he somewhat hate this, yet he don’t want to run. When Aomine finally departed with him, again, the powerless demon shoots a glare at him. But of course, again, that only excites Aomine even more.

“A man with your intelligence can’t sort this out? Want me to bring you the bed? Actually, are you a masochist?” asked Aomine, playing with Imayoshi’s spectacles. “That thing down there is not calm at all.”

“It’s your fault, Devil!” Imayoshi snarled. “This is unbelievable… you really make an excellent Greed!”

“Imayoshi…” Aomine called again. Unwillingly, Imayoshi looks at him, asking ‘what’ in silent.

“You really shouldn’t say those things… From the very moment I chose you, until now, I will only choose you.”

And Imayoshi’s face urn redder in embarrassment. He tries to hide his face with his hands, eyes averting Aomine’s stare and after a while he could hear Aomine’s childish laugh. “Oi, Imayoshi…”

Again, he felt like he wants to cut off his ear, those voice of him really makes him shivers. He looks at Aomine, again asking what?

“You really don’t think a kiss or two will satisfied me, do you? I am Greed after all.”

“What…”

“Shall we continue?” and the last rational thing Imayoshi can remember is the playful smile on the Devil's lips.

~~~

Midorima fixes his spectacles again. It's not like he is nervous or anything, but the stories he heard from the others are making him curious. This feeling actually is worst than the time he wanted to know about the Cerberus, the Hell Dog. Murasakibara said the Sins are not working on him. What kind of human did not have any dangerous feelings inside of them? Surely he will be greedy on things he loves. Obviously he would be enraged if his loved ones got snatched away from him. And eventually he will feel the pride if someone ridicules him. So why?

Aomine said he had confirmed that the Takao is a normal human being, not having any superpower at all, just a weak, usual human. So how could he didn't feel any urge to 'ravish' Kuroko when he saw that goddess? Any other human will surely do that. It almost happened even before 10 years ago, and they did make sure no human came closer since then. But he isn't, why?

And Kise said he is cute, might be as cute as how they see Kuroko too. His skin is not too smooth as a girl would, which is perfectly fine because he is a man. And maybe because of his young age, his body is well-build too. Midorima is sure that the human boy actually did some exercise, or maybe joined a sport. His fine body is a good sexy asset a human could have, and his eyes are especially good too. To be able to feel Kuroko's presence like it was natural, even them the Devils couldn't do that at first. It was Aomine who first introduced Kuroko to the other six.

"Shintarou, how long have you been standing there?" a voice interrupted his thinking mind. Turning around, Midorima sees Akashi walking from his door.

"Not for a long time -nanodayo. Are we flying?" asked Midorima, fixing his shirt. The Emperor ordered him to come before dawn, and Midorima did. In fact, he didn't move an inch from Akashi's mansion since their afternoon meeting. He follows Akashi as they walk towards the exit.

"Do you want to? I actually want to feel the breeze today," smiled Akashi. "And I'm curious to see the changing view Atsushi said."

"Hn. Though you always study the scenery from time to time. Why didn't you say about the agreement you made with Alex -nanodayo?"

"They will know about it sooner or later, like you did. Na, Shintarou, have you gathered the information that I asked you to?"

"Obviously -nanodayo."

Akashi smiled. "As expected of the Lord of Pride."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry... Midorima didn't meet Takao yet. Next chapter, next chapter. I promise you.  
> And, guys, I can't update one chapter per day as I usually did, because now in my country it is weekend, and I can't use the laptop too much. I'll make up with this, I am sorry!


	5. At Night...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please keep in mind that this happens at night, and I am seriously sorry as I am 2 (maybe 3) days late.

The sounds of wings flocking, the wind getting stronger, Takao and Kuroko know they have a guest. No, maybe more than one. They both look at each other. Worried, yet they don’t really care. Because Kuroko said that this is his territory, only him and the superior ones can come in easily, so it’s just the Devils then. Kuroko stands up, followed by Takao. They walk to the main door together, one with a wide smile, and another with a poker face.

Kuroko opens the door and Takao takes a peek. “Woah! Cool, red and green!”

“Red and green?” Kuroko stepped outside and chuckled a bit. “It’s been a long time, Akashi-kun, Midorima-kun.”

The said Devils smile softly. In a blink of an eye, their wings disappear, leaving nothing extraordinary on them other than the horns and the tails. Akashi is the first one to step forward. “Yes, it’s been a while, Tetsuya. I see this is the human they are talking about.” He looks at Takao, who is smiling like usual. _Not scared at all, huh…_

“Yes, this is Takao-kun, from the Human World,” Kuroko turned to Takao too. “Takao-kun, this is Akashi, the Devil of Envy.”

Takao reaches out a hand, greeting the Devils. They accept him, both with different expression. Akashi still smiles shortly, while the green keeps his stoic look. Kuroko introduced him to Takao too. “That’s Midorima-kun, the Lord of Pride.”

“Why are you grinning like an idiot for -nanodayo?” asked Midorima, staring straight at the human. Seriously, if it wasn’t the ‘empty’ Takao, any other human would be offended already. Akashi thought Takao would be mad to be called an idiot, but then the weak creature smiles wider.

“Hahaha! All of you Devils are so honest! I’m happy for being able to see all of the Devils here!” laughed Takao. His behaviour is so carefree, even Kuroko sometimes worried for his sake. “Guys, let’s talk inside, okay?”

Inside the house, Kuroko and Akashi chose to sit on the bed, and Takao on Kuroko’s chair while Midorima wants to just stand against the wall. “I’ll make tea, you guys talk with each other,” said Takao while walking to the kitchen. The tea in this world is different color, yet when Takao tasted it, they are all the same after all. Kuroko has taught him how to make one from their world.

The others nod, sending him with looks only. Akashi is the first one to break the silent. “He is a lively human, how did you bear with him?”

Kuroko laughed. “Not really, he is just an excited being. He keeps smiling and smiling, and he knows how to take care of others. I really like him.”

“That’s good. It’s been so long the last time I saw you smiling like this.”

“Is it?” Kuroko smiled. “Who knows.”

“Akashi,” Midorima called, reminding the Envy the main reason they are coming here today. Akashi nods. Kuroko just keeps waiting. Somewhere in his heart, the buried loneliness cracks again.

“Tetsuya, did you remember the time when I mentioned about the Angels?” Kuroko nods.

“I want to introduce you to them. It should be for another several days, might be even another week. I just wanted to remind you of it.”

“Akashi… did you want to talk about my status? Do you want me to be with the Angels instead of you guys…?” asked Kuroko, looking down. His face remains poker, but anyone can see the feels inside his round eyes. Akashi smiles again.

“It’s for the best. I don’t want to lose you forever.”

“Pardon my intrusion~” Takao’s voice echoed. They look at him again. He brings the tea as he said, and they all enjoy it for a moment. “Is it good?”

“Yes, it is. I guess Tetsuya has taught you of my preference in drinks?” Akashi looked at Takao. As Kise said, he is one splendid human. Yet, he is abnormal.

Takao laughed. “Yeah, you got me there. I did my best though. I’m glad you like it.”

“Hn, you are one weird human -nanodayo,” Midorima spoke. “I still don’t understand why are you feeling happy all the time. Isn’t it exhausting?”

“Pardon him. He is not so honest with what he wanted to say,” Akashi smiled.

“Yes, Midorima-kun was saying thank you for your splendid tea, Takao-kun.”

“What- no! I didn’t say that -nanodayo!”

And again, Takao laughs it hard. “You guys… haha being friends for decades sure feel nice.”

“Decades? You meant centuries.”

Takao blinked. He had this funny looks on him, where he keeps his smile but his eyes are actually saying ‘I don’t understand’ or ‘what did you just say?’. “How old are you guys actually?”

“We are on our prime, 1 700 years,” Akashi revealed, shocking the other two old friends. For Akashi to told anyone about any kind of information, that’s… new. While Takao, again laughs it off. “Seriously?! That’s 17 centuries! And here I am, still a 14 years old human.”

“Oh yes, pardon me, Takao,” called Akashi, actually stood up and gets in front of Takao. “Can I please examine your eyes?”

“Ha?”

“I just want to look into your eyes. I believe the others did it too.”

“Oh, that thing! Sure, sure. Here~” Takao grinned again. He then looks straight to the Envy’s odd eyes, one is red, and another is yellowish orange. For a while, they keep those posture until a smile creaks on Akashi’s lips. “Shintarou, do you want it too…?”

Midorima nods. He then stands on his knees in front of Takao, hands reach for the human’s oval face, eyes lock on the others. Then inside of Takao’s heart, he wonders how many times he need to this again. Believe it or not, he has almost seen every Devils here. It only leaves the Wrath and the Sloth. “Takao,” suddenly, the green called him, making him blinks.

“Why did I sensed Aomine’s Greed in you -nanodayo?”

“Ah, I am about to ask Tetsuya about that,” said Akashi.

“About that…” Kuroko began, but then he noticed Takao giving him signals that he would talk. “Aomine lent me a little of his energy when mine was drained before. Really, he is too kind!”

“Oh my, it’s nice of him. Well then Tetsuya, I will see you again after this. It’s dark already, I have plans tonight too, please excuse us,” Akashi said after standing on his two foot. “I will come again to escort you. Please take care of yourself. You too, Takao.”

“Sure! Thank you for coming here to see Kuroko!” the human rose too. He follows Akashi to the door, wanting to see their wings again. No matter how many times he saw it already, it’s still amazing. Seriously.

While Midorima actually began to follow Akashi too, Kuroko tugs his blazer, stopping him from moving. Surprised, Midorim turns around. “What is it?”

Kuroko didn’t say anything at first, he kept the silent but then he opened his little mouth. “As usual, you are quiet whenever you came to see me.”

“What- well, I don’t have anything to say -nanodayo! I only came to see you too, so…” Midorima blushed slightly. From their kids age, he is not good at expressing himself, and Kuroko likes to confront him like this, making him stuttered and all.

They didn’t notice this, but at the main door Takao is there, staring at them blankly for a while, before stepping outside of the house, giving the other two space for talking. ‘Kuroko sure is easy to feel lonely…’ he thought while gaining his smile back. Then he asks Akashi about their wings. “Can I look at your wings again? They are super cool!” Akashi smiles amusingly, he then shows the human his wings.

Inside the house though, Midorima is still puzzled as why on earth Kuroko stopped him actually. “Kuroko, do you have something to say-”

“Midorima-kun,” Kuroko cut him off. He slowly moves his head, facing the taller Midorima. “I want to ask you a favour.”

“Excuse me?”

“While I am away with Akashi-kun, please take care of Takao-kun. Please stay by his side. I’ll tell him later so he won’t freak out or anything, though I doubt that to happen…”

“Wait, no, Kuroko, you- why me- nanodayo?”

“I can’t ask anyone else for this matter. Please, accompany Takao while I am not with him,” Kuroko looked down again. “Or… if it’s not possible, then…”

“No, I can do it,” sighed Midorima. Kuroko looks at his eyes again. “Really? You don’t have any important work?” he asked. Midorima shakes his head in return. “Sure, I might have extra works tomorrow, but I can manage it before you need to go -nanodayo.”

“Thank you, Midorima-kun.”

“Hn. I only do the most that I can,” he replied. He took a glance at Kuroko, noticing that goddess’s smile. “I need to go now. About that human of yours, no need to feel worry or anything.”

“Yes.”

~~~

They arrived at their mansion not a long while ago. Midorima has safely went inside his main room, going through every information he has. Those green eyes of him cannot sleep early today, thus he makes use of the free time.

“This is another file of the dead prideful soul. They should arrive at Hell for now…” mumbled him to himself. _Come to think of it, it’s true that Takao doesn’t have any sick pride. Akashi confirmed that he didn’t sense any dreadful envy either. He is so mysterious._

Ring ring. Ring ring.

Midorima immediately answer the phone call. Here, the Devils use some information devices too, like in the Human World. Akashi is the one who started it though, after he went to the Human World, and everyone use it… He felt the urge to use them too. Of course, after they used it, the other dimensions and the other beings started to follow them. Well, that’s a very long time story.

“Lord of Pride here,” he said.

“...”

“What?” his tone changed. He listens for a while again, and then after saying regards he calls Akashi. “Akashi, were you asleep? We have a big change to the plan. I’ll come to your main work room now.”

Midorima changes his outfit after that, and then he uses his magic to appear inside Akashi’s room. There, he find Akashi with his usual posture, legs crossing and body leaning against his chair. “I am sorry for bothering you this late at night.”

“It’s okay, speak up Shintarou, what happened?”

“The Angels called me and said that they would like to meet Kuroko tomorrow, as they have things to do for the rest of the month -nanodayo.”

“Oh, was it that time already? No wonder _he_ has been very busy,” replied the red. He then thinks for a second before looking at Midorima, straight to the eyes. “We will keep our plan as it is. Tomorrow, I’ll meet with Kuroko and bring him to the Angels. Is that all?”

Midorima sweat in troubled. “I’m okay with that -nanodayo. It’s just that Kuroko asked me a favour to take care of the human, and tomorrow will be a busy day for me…”

“Did he?” said Akashi, his voice seemed shocked, but his expression remained the same. “Well, if anything comes to worst, you can bring him here. He has Aomine’s in him, so he should be fine.”

“Yes, I’ll think about it. Thank you -nanodayo. I shall begone now.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

~~~ 

“Eh? You need to go somewhere?” Takao looked at Kuroko, the latter seems worried and guilty, making Takao thinks for a second. “I get it, I get it! Don’t look so sad, Kuroko, I’ll cry too. So, I will be on my own then, right?”

“No, I asked Midorima-kun to accompany you while I am gone. Though I don’t know if he would meet you here, or bring you to his mansion,” Kuroko sighed. “Please be careful, don’t let other demons eat you…”

Takao laughed. “No, no, no way. Haha what are you talking about? I’ll be fine! Midorima is the green guy, right? With tapes on his fingers? Although he seems to be the serious type, I can handle those kind of guys.”

‘He’s a Devil though…’ Kuroko thought, does not want to say it to Takao’s face. “But Takao-kun, he has a lot of work too. So I don’t really know when will he come and meet you again.”

“Mou, I get it already! Stop that guilty face!” Takao stretched Kuroko’s cheeks, making him all puffy, and loses his sad look. At first, Takao intended to stop when Kuroko’s face is normal again, but then… “This is fun, hahaha your face- puhhh!!” He lets go immediately when he felt a sudden impact on his stomach.

“Kuroko… Kuroko-kun, please tell me beforehand if you wanted to punch me…”

“I’m sorry. I was pissed.”

Takao laughed again. His face still shows some pain though, and when Kuroko sees that, he smiles softly. “You idiot, your behaviour worries me the most. Please be careful with the Devils," Kuroko patted Takao's head, caressing him to the point it tickles. Takao laughs. He then lays on the bed, pulling Kuroko with him. He turns to him.

“I’ll be okay. I’ll wait for you here, I won’t go to my world yet. Your empty heart is not filled yet, I can’t just abandon you here!”

~~~

“Though I said that… Now, what am I going to do?” Takao asked himself. In this big, empty, white, pure room, he is left alone. He gazes at the outside, remembering what happened just now. Akashi came, and although he said the meeting should be for another days, he brought Kuroko to the Angels today. What a turn of events. Akashi said to him that Midorima has works to do, so he might come late. Takao sighs a little.

He lays at the centre of the house. Not doing anything, just staring at the ceiling. He is not allowed to get too far of the house, the demons will spotted him and makes him their lunch. He stares at his surrounding. Just a desk, a chair, a bed, two racks, white walls, light blue curtains, and light blue doors. Even the kitchen is white and light blue. If Takao is to be honest, this house discomforts him from the very moment he explores it.

“This house is too… empty,” he mumbled. If Kuroko is not with him, he feels like he is being eaten by those white. After all, white is just the same as the black. They swallow everything in their way.

He rolls his body to the side. “I wonder how Kuroko spent his time before…” Sure, there are books, videos and things Kuroko could watch. He even planted those vegetables outside, even though he didn’t eat them frequently. Takao cannot even stand this loneliness for half an hour, how could Kuroko survived this past 10 years alone?

“That Midorima… I hope he comes soon…” then he felt a shudder, he takes a gaze at the window. He chuckled softly. “It’s raining outside… Their rain is scary…” It is red. Like a shower of blood. He amazes himself with staying sane this entire time he is spirited away. Takao looks at his cloth. Today he succeeded in wearing Hakama by himself. Kuroko watched him, corrected him when he did wrong. But literally, he wore it by himself! What a good thing.

“I don’t even feel like cooking or eating when I am alone. What a joke,” he sighed again. He clenches his fist. Feeling melancholy. “Ha… I want to play basketball…”

~~~

Meanwhile at Kise’s mansion, things were a bit hectic. Demons running from place to place. Only Kise is leisurely walking at the hallway, on his way to meet Momoi when he noticed Midorima, not acting like his old self. “Oi, oi Midorimacchi. What’s wrong, actually?” Kise greeted him. Midorima glances at him a second before continues walking. “You are a bit in a hurry, don’t you think?” asked Kise again.

“I have extra works today, and I can’t waste any of my precious time talking -nanodayo. Please excuse me.”

“Wait-wait! Geez, Midorimacchi is too hard on himself!”

Midorima finally stops his running-walk. “What is it?!”

“Here, tell me things that I can help you, you have another important things to do, right?!” Kise glared at him, who seems a bit confused with what he just said. “I am saying I want to help you! I have done my work for today.”

“That’s… You, done your work even before lunch?! I find it unbelievable -nanodayo.”

“Hey, that’s rude! Come on, tell me.”

“Well, I don’t actually mind it. If you are that eager to help me, then can I ask you to meet with Momoi and give her this documents -nanodayo?”

“Lucky, I am about to see her too. Alright, now off you go!” Kise takes the documents from Midorima’s hand. There are a file of them, and Midorima looks a little relieved when he did that.

“Hn. Thanks -nanodayo,” then he disappears, leaving Kise actually dumbstruck at him.

“Eh?! Wait, wait! Midorimacchi saying thanks to me?!!!”

“Geez, what is this screaming, are you a girl?!” Momoi’s voice echoed in the hallway, surprised Kise, but he didn’t show it much, as he is still shocked by Midorima. It's not that while after smokes appear besides him.

“Ne, ne Momocchi! Listen, Midorima thanked me a little while ago!” 

“Eh?! Then, what happened?!”

“Ah, before that… Here, he wanted to give you this documents.”

“What?! He asked Ki-chan to do something?!”

“I know right~”

“Ah, Ki-chan. I actually came here to tell you that we will go to the Beast tomorrow, as today is too dangerous. It will be full-moon tonight, they are too sensitive, and we are out-numbered if anything happens,” winked the female Devil.

“Ah, is that so? Good, I actually wanted to ask you about that too.”

“So?! Continue your story, hurry! I want to know more!”

~~~

The room is shaking, all of the furniture in the house seems to be. It feels like a small earthquake is happening, and then out of nowhere, the same, old black smoke appear inside of the house. There, Midorima stands tiredly, yet he remains his straight posture.

_It’s raining heavily, that’s why I used the magic. But this house seems too quiet for the childish human… where is he?_ Midorima adjusts his eyes to keep with the darkness in the house. They are in the woods, the wind here is stronger than the Devils’ mansions, and without the lights, Kuroko’s house is the same as the old haunted house. After a while, Midorima notices a figure crawling up his body on the floor. It moves a little, maybe because of the shaking earlier.

Midorima stares at it, before noticing it was Takao. “What… is he dead?”

He gets closer to the human, checking his pulse and didn’t realize himself feeling relief when Takao is only sleeping. “Really, why didn’t he turn any light on? Isn’t it dark for the human too?” he carried Takao to the bed. “Not to mention, falling asleep on the floor is cold. What should I do if he is sick then?”

Mdiorima adjust the human’s posture to be as relax as he can be, and then pulls the blanket to cover the human’s body. He stares at Takao for a while, and then notice a tear falling from Takao’s eyes. Midorima then, surprised, he wipes it quickly and caresses him. “What… why is he crying? Does it hurt anywhere… no, it shouldn’t be. I checked it perfectly. Then… is he dreaming?”

Midorima places his right hand on Takao’s forehead. With some energy, he looks into the human’s brain, checking if he is dreaming anything painful, but no. There are no dream, no memories or such. His sleeping brain is not giving his master anything to cry for, so why?

“If anything, you are a bored human…” mumbled Midorima, actually felt a pain struck his heart. And that, gives him a little shudder. “What is this…?” he looked at his hand, then looks at Takao’s peaceful face. Repeatedly, he looks at them one by one, before giving up. “Seriously, what is this?”

“Hn…”

Midorima is surprised again. He looks at Takao, now is blinking, still sleepy before he looks completely refreshed. Then, the usual glitters in his gray eyes appear, and again, Midorima without knowing it himself felt relieved when he saw that. The human takes his time, rubbing his eyes before mumbling things. “Ugh… I fell asleep. And the rain won’t sto-” he blinked several times, actually just noticed the others' presence. Now, they both stare at each other.

“Er… hi?”

Midorima sighed a little. “Your behaviour is really idiotic. How did you survive your 15 years -nanodayo?” asked Midorima. “I can’t believe this.”

“Hey, that’s not true! I am sometimes an idiot, but not every minute of my 15 years, Shin-chan.”

“Hn- What? Sh… Shin-chan?!”

“Yeah, Shin-chan!” Takao nods excitedly. Kuroko told him his full name, and finally Takao decided the nickname he will give to the babysitter.

“Don’t you dare give me any weird nickname! I, the Lord of Pride, shall not allow this kind of act-”

“Yes, yes. I understand. Really, people like you from my point of view is always funny, you know~”

“Hn, this is why human is such a foolish creature. Why didn’t you turn on any light at all -nanodayo? It was pitch black when I arrived,” Midorima flicked his finger, and the lights were switched on.

“Ow, ow, ow, my eyes…! You Devil… tell me first, next time! I don’t want to be blind in such a young age!” scolded him, annoyed when his eyesight are now blurry, as surrounded by the lights all of the sudden.

“That’s brave of you, scolding a Devil. You are lucky I am not as violent as Aomine and Akashi -nanodayo.”

“Ao… blue… Aomine’s colour is blue, right?” Takao asked suddenly, thinking that Aomine has the ‘blue’ word in his name.

“Yes?”

“Midorima… midori, green. Akashi, aka, red… haha! What’s with that, your name has your own colour in it. That’s funny!”

“I don’t see anything funny in it. How did your brain works, Takao?”

“Woah, that’s a first! You called my name, right?!”

“And why are you that happy when I did -nanodayo…” he sighed again. This is bad. He is exhausted by those works he finished hurriedly. And now he is drowning with Takao’s enthusiasm. Tonight, he will spend it with this human too. Midorima stares at the non-stop-talking Takao.

“At least you are not crying…” he mumbled, and then lay besides Takao, who is still sitting on the bed. He shuts his eyes, and it does not takes him a long time to fall into a slumber.

~~~

He stares at the big door, his legs didn’t move an inch since 10 minutes he arrived back then. It’s late at night now, he needs to sleep, and his main bedroom is behind the big door. But, he won’t sleeps alone tonight… there is a lost soul in there.

And what’s worst, Kise thought he was cute. Last night he escaped by saying he has works to do with his companion, which he actually spent sleeping inside his working room. His servants are now curious about why on hell he would spend the night with his work. Is it that weird? No, definitely, because I never did that…

Knock knock.

He heard a knock at the door from inside, and immediately he opens the door, face is worried as hell and the first thing he sees is, the lost soul. “Yu- Yukiocchi… What’s wrong? Why did you knocked the door?” He shuts the door close, not wanting anyone to know what is he hiding actualy.

Well, a delicious meal.

In a blink of an eye, the lost soul frowned. “I told you I don’t like that name… Whatever. I knocked it because you were standing outside for a very long time! I was about to sleep too!”

‘What… so he spent the whole 10 minutes staring at the door…?’ Kise chuckled, feeling amused by the thought. “What’s so funny? Hurry up and go to bed, idiot Devil.”

“Yes, yes… Why didn’t you go first? Why did you wait for me?”

Kasamatsu turns away. He walks hurriedly to the bed, not wanting to answer the question. Kise smiles mischievously, he saw the slightly pink color the human has on his cheeks. But then he just takes off his blazer and all, and get into the bathroom, which is inside the room too. So convenient, like a house inside a house. Oh, except that he don’t have the kitchen. Well, he won't cook after all.

He takes his time when he is bathing- a really long time. Aomine always makes fun of him, saying he is like a girl. That’s not true… Kise just wants to make sure his body and face is perfect! He needs to have the alluring looks after all. He is the Lust! And it’s not like he takes care of his nails like Midorimacchi! That Pride is much more girlish than he is!

Of course, some stretching after bathing, while walking outside of the bathroom is a must. “Ah~ A good, nice, warm bath sure beats everythi- woah! Yukiocchi, you are still awake?!”

Kasamatsu stares at Kise, who is covering his upper body. Kasamatsu’s face is slightly red when Kise covered his body like that, but nothing big really shows on his face. “I can’t sleep. I am not waiting for you at all.”

“But the way you said it makes it feels like you are actually waiting for me!”

“Haa?! But I am not!”

“Geez, I get it, I get it! Wait until I finish wearing my clothes!” Kise quickly ran towards his clothes racks. This time, he does not take a long time, and when he is done, he slightly runs to the bed, only to find Kasamatsu is already sleeping.

“Seriously…” sighed Kise, unbelievable. “All those saying he didn’t wait for me, when he is that tired already… I told you, you need to rest as much as you can…” Kise gets onto the bed. He fixes the blanket on Kasamatsu, and then spend a minute to explore the soul’s face with his eyes. “He is still frowning even in his sleep. What a serious child.”

“Hnn…? What?” Kasamatsu suddenly opened his eyes, meeting Kise’s. And of course, the latter is speechless with shame. “Why are you not sleeping?”

“I- I was about to! Geez, don’t scare me like that! My heart literally was about to burst!” Kise turns around, he can’t sleep like this. This is too dangerous. The human is too cute and unexpectedly dense for him! He can’t deal with this fluffy feelings anymore!

“As I thought… You can’t sleep if you are with me, huh…”

“Eh?” Kise turned to him. His face is puzzled, making the half-human to frown more. “You didn’t come here last night, were you sleeping somewhere else?”

“Eh? Yes, I slept while doing my works…” Oh, and that’s why he had so much free time today. He just remembered it.

Kasamatsu looks at him. “Well, this is your house, your world, and your bed more importantly. So if you were to sleep at somewhere else because I am here, then I prefer to let me sleep there, not you.”

“Eh?! No, no way! Aside from this room, there are no other places that you can go unharmed! Seriously, you will be someone’s meal!”

“Then, you sleep with me in this room too. I don’t want to take advantage of your kindness.”

What the Hell?! I don’t understand this situation anymore! What, he wanted to sleep with me then?! Does he realize what is he spouting now?!

“Kise. What’s wrong?” asked Kasamatsu, concerned when Kise’s face is all sweaty and pale. “Am I really a bother here…?”

‘YES, YOU ARE. YOU ARE BOTHERING BOTH MY MIND AND MY HEART,’ is what he wanted to scream out, but no way he will do that. Calming himself, he smiles confidently, like he always did.

“How can you conclude that? Yukiocchi, you unexpectedly missed me that much already?”

“Haa?! No way, I am not that comfortable to use your bed like it was mine, that’s all!”

“Hmm… well, I’ll sleep here tonight, so please rest assure. You are not bothering anyone. Like I said before, just focus on healing.”

Kasamatsu humph him before he lays again. They didn’t say anything at all afterwards, just feeling each others’ warmth and trying their best to fall asleep now. Well, for Kasamatsu it is easier to just lay down and sleep. But, it’s the opposite for Kise. He is trying hard to calm himself, while staring at Kasamatsu’s sleeping face. Yup, still frowning.

~~~

Murasakibara woke up at the worst time of all. The after midnight. Whenever he is awake around this time, he can never sleeps again. Ever. Frowning, cursing, and sighing, he walks away from his bed. In this big sleeping room, there is one big (even bigger that King size) bed, two big closet and a cabinet, and one big bathroom. There's a balcony outside, which he rarely uses at all. And every night he is awake like this, he will spend it with food- which he secretly stocks them inside of the cabinet. Well, if his subordinate finds out about this, he will get scold... and what's worst, they will confiscate his snacks for a week!! That will be terrible as Hell!

"Ma... tonight will be..." Murasakibara froze. He looks at the cabinet with such an unbelievable look, shocked when he all he could see is dust. "Where is my snacks?!"

"Ah?! Don't tell me they actually found out about this?!" Murasakibara glared at the door deadly. "I am their Lord, aren't I?!" He is about to go burst the demons dorm, but then, a thought came to him. Maybe... I just forgot to add them... I've been a little busy after Takaochin came after all... Hmm...

"Well, whatever. I'm hungry..." He walked to the exit. All he could think now is the kitchen- his paradise. It's where they locked up all of the food. But, when he is half-way to the kitchen, he is spotted by two demon, which he really shouldn't if he wanted to sneak into the kitchen.

"Ah... Murasakibara. Why are you still awake now?" asked Okamura, his advisor in terms of work. His question rose the attention of his another cosultant- Masako Araki.

"Eh... I just awoke, and I can't sleep back... Can I-"

"No, please go back to your room." His words are cut before he could even finish it. Well, what can he do other than snapped after that? "Ha...? I don't want to. I can't sleep, I told you."

"And you can't just go to the kitchen this time. Our food will be in danger drastically. If you actually go there, I will have to cut your regular meal time," said Masako coldly. Her eyes are saying that she doesn't care if Murasakibara is actually more superior than her. "I need to take care of you, not just because you are our Lord. Please just go back to your sleep."

Murasakibara clicked his tongue. He can't fight against the female demon, she has too much connection with the other superiors. These advisors are not afraid of their Lord at all... Feeling that he really is not allowed to go there at all, Murasakibara turns away. "This sucks... You guys will be in trouble if I actually got sick tomorrow..."

He heard them giggling. "I sure hope that won't happen," they said.

Murasakibara sighed again. He has no choice now. His foot keeps walking zombie-like, he drags his foot as if he is carrying a really heavy burden at his foot. Not to mention, his shoulder is all down, like if you push him, he will surely falls. After walking aimlessly, Murasakibara stopped for a little while. Why is it so long to reach my room...? Murasakibara looks around. What... this is not the way to my room. Where...

"This is..." Murasakibara looks in front of him. It's not too far, he can reach it with just a few large steps. The door to the village, it is.

"Why did I walk to here... This is troublesome... Takes too much energy too... And I am too lazy to walk back..." he glanced at the door. His mind says he wanted to use the magic and just appear in front of his bed. His heart says he wanted to meet him. "Is he asleep...?"

Murasakibara looks around, he is now in front of the door. Unconsciously, he reaches for the doorknob, and walks in.

The village is a little dark, there are torches everywhere to keep the light on. "If I remember it correctly..." he started walking. Thank goodness it is passed midnight. There are no one around, he didn't bump to any demon he doesn't want to. He can keep walking straight to the house, with eyes actually wonder everywhere he can see. It's such a quiet village. There are no sounds or whatsoever at all. "Oh... I have arrived."

Murasakibara stands there, blankly thinking what he should do next. His heart is a little sad now as the house is dark too, which can only mean he has already sleeps, right? There is no point on walking here-

"Eh?! Atsushi?" Murasakibara faced forward. There, besides the dark house, Himuro is standing while carrying his small torch. His face is surprised, as much as Murasakibara is.

"I thought... you had fall asleep..."

"Why are you here, this late at night? It's good that I didn't sleep yet..." the demon walked to him. He had to tilt his face a little, as Murasakibara is too tall for him. "You want to get inside?"

Murasakibara nods. He rubs his stomach a little, feeling hungry and now tired after all of those walking. Himuro notices this, and smiles at him. "Are you perhaps hungry?" Again, he nods slowly. Himuro chuckles. "I guess there are something in the house. It might not be as great as in your mansion but-"

"I want it," said Murasakibara. "Please."

Himuro blinked for a several times. He then smiles again. "Keep it as a secret, or both of us will be troubled." And he pulled the Devil's hand into the house.


	6. The Uncrowned Kings~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY, I have no excuse, I am ashamed of myself, I am truly sorry for not updating chapters for these past days (or weeks), you guys can torture me after I am done with this work.
> 
> Having said that, please enjoy~ TAT
> 
> Oh, and I edited the fifth chapter, as I originally wanted to put MuraMuro together, but couldn't last time. So... now I have put it, I am relieved~

He keeps his staring outside, where there is a vast land of plants. Flowers, trees, grasses, butterflies, bees… it’s so heartwarming, the Devil can’t help but feels satisfied and chuckled.

“Oi, Kiyoshi!!” the door is opened from the outside. He does not need to turn around to see who was calling him. He can hear the footsteps coming violently near him though. “I thought I told you…” the voice echoed again. Kiyoshi keeps his lazy face, and turns slightly to his left. “…That you need to do your work properly, you tree!! (as Kiyoshi has 'tree' or 'wood' in his name)” And the next thing Kiyoshi knows is a flying file, hitting straight to his face.

“Ow! It hurts! Hanamiya, geez…!” said him while rubbing his nose. “What should I do if you break my nose?” he put the file aside. Glancing at it for a second, he lets out a sigh. “Mou, I will finish my work like usual, right? There’s no need for you to hit me with a file!”

“I know. I just wanted to hit you.” The demon shrugged his shoulder, his face doesn’t show anything resembles guilty or sorry at all. His gray shirt is let loose, his tie too. “You irritates me whenever you gazed at the flowers. It’s disgusting.”

“Yeah, right… Just because your name is flower (hana), I can’t even look at the real flowers. How jealous you can be?” smiled Kiyoshi, making the other snapped in furious. They just about to fight for real when the door is once again, opened without a knock.

“Oh, my. Did we interrupted anything?” is the first thing to come out from Mibuchi’s mouth. Behind the tall guy, there are Hayama and Nebuya too.

“What, what, you guys are in a middle of something?” asked the shortest guy. Nebuya shakes his head. “No, really Hayama. You shouldn’t ask those kind of thing. It’s obvious-”

“Now what are you guys talking about?!” snapped Hanamiya, looking straight at Nebuya.

“Hey, Mibuchi started it.”

“You guys…”

“Huh?” everyone looked at Kiyoshi, who seems tired but his smile is still there.

“You should learn to knock before you come in…”

Mibuchi laughs. “Well, whatever. Kiyoshi-kun, are you done with your works already?” They came in, of course, don’t need to ask for permission. This is Kiyoshi. He is the demon who lacks any consideration at all. Well, he is too dense for that. “And what’s wrong with your nose? You keep rubbing it.”

“Right. Mibuchi~!! Hanamiya threw a file at me! He was jealous that I look at-” another file was thrown at him. But this time, Kiyoshi manages to catch it before it can hit his nose again. “See?! Hanamiya is stupid!”

“What the Hell- you want me to make you can’t even talk after this?!”

“Guys, you are so hot-blooded!” Hayama laughed. They all look at him, ‘you are the most hot-blooded person in this room…’ they all thought. “Anyway, Kiyoshi, you are done with your work right? I am done too! In fact, all of us are free right now.”

“Huh… and why the hell you came here just to say that?” asked Hanamiya.

“Nothing! I want to see Kiyoshi, that’s why I came!”

“And I love the view from this room,” said Mibuchi, taking a sip of the tea he just made.

“Ah, Mibuchi. Give me a cup,” asked Nebuya. Mibuchi makes the most delicious tea of all. “Oh, me too.” Kiyoshi walks to them. Even Hayama takes a sip. “Hanamiya, here. Your share.”

“Hn.” the grumpy guy took it after all.

“Anyway, the rumors are spreading. Is it true you guys keep a human here?” Mibuchi asked Kiyoshi, which is one of the ‘you guys’. “Anywhere I went, they all keep talking about it, it’s driving me crazy. Is it true?”

Kiyoshi thinks for a second. He then turns to everyone in the room. Well, there’s no point in hiding it now... he thought. “We didn’t keep the human here. He was caught in a spell and now he is with Kuroko. We will send him to his world when the time comes.”

“Eh… he is with Kuroko?” asked Nebuya, noticed that it is unusual for the Devils to let it happen.

Kiyoshi chuckled. “Well, from what I heard, this human is different. The sins are not that great inside him, he didn’t feel a thing towards Kuroko either. He is one weird human.”

“Eh…” smirked Hanamiya. And idea went through him, and Kiyoshi saw that. “Hanamiya, you better not mess with him. Imayoshi did that, and Aomine gave him a proper punishment. You won’t get away from me if you did the same.”

The room fell to silent. They knew Kiyoshi is serious. Even Hanamiya didn’t fight back when he said that. “Well,” Kiyoshi smiled again. “I know you guys are kind, and I don’t want any trouble with the other Devils.”

Knock Knock

“Oh? A proper knocking before coming to the room. Come in!” Kiyoshi walked to his desk. He put his teacup aside, not wanting it to spill. “Well, well… Imayoshi-kun.”

Imayoshi steps inside after hearing the permission from Kiyoshi. He took a glance at the other demons inside the room. “My, for all of the Uncrowned Kings to be inside of one room, the air here is really intense.”

“Eh… did you came just to make fun of us, Imayoshi-kun?” Mibuchi asked, and Hayama laughed. “As always, I really don’t like you,” he said, eyes are on Imayoshi. The sly demon keeps smiling, he felt amused rather than scared.

“Now, I don’t want to get into Sloth territory if it’s not because of works, do I?” Imayoshi stops when he is in front of Kiyoshi. The Devil looks at the paper from Imayoshi’s hand. Just one piece of paper. “If you will excuse me, please let me settle works with this Lord here before you settle things with me.”

“Oh? Akashi already brought Kuroko, huh?” said Kiyoshi, taking his time to read each words and lines on that one paper. Imayoshi nods. “Yes, so please sign here, Kiyoshi-san.”

“Oh, is that why I saw Akashi with Kuroko yesterday?” Mibuchi asked. “Na, Kiyoshi, tell us what happened yesterday! You went there together mid-way, right?”

“Hmm… even if I wanted to tell you…”

~~~

From where he stands, they all look the same to him. White clothes, white shoes, white rings, and white wings. Everyone is the same, but as in Kiyoshi’s eyes, that one particular angel, who is walking fast in front of him right now, is different.

“What are you spacing out for?” he shouted, frowning when Kiyoshi stopped walking. “They just arrived, and if you wanted to join them for the meeting, then start walking!”

“Hyuuga… you are really strict, I told you we can just use my-”

“And you think I’ll let you use your demon’s power in angels’ place?”

Kiyoshi pouted. Hyuuga really is a fun-breaker. What’s the use of having powers if I can’t use it?

When they arrive there, Akashi has already started the serious meeting, with the Aidas. Both Kagetora and Riko take this seriously, with no intention of making jokes at all. Well, Kagetora does all the talks with Akashi, while Riko just keeps staring the whole time at Kuroko, who is not saying anything either.

The Goddess keeps his head down.

“And, as I said before, I hope you will take care of Tetsuya after this,” said Akashi, eyes fighting Kagetora’s. The angel didn’t reply him, he is thinking hard.

“If I may say anything, father,” suddenly, Riko rose her hand, eyes still on Kuroko. Kagetora looks at her, giving permission in silent. “Kuroko-kun,” called her, gaining his attention. “Do you actually want to be here?”

And that question rises the tension, Kuroko is sweating slightly, his eyes waver with Riko’s confident. Even Akashi didn’t utter a word this time. Kagetora just smiles at her, as she did ask the most important question after all. And that’s the time when Kiyoshi appears behind Kuroko, out of nowhere.

“Ah! Hey, what are you-” Riko stuttered, surprised when Kiyoshi suddenly hugs Kuroko from his back, catching everyone on guard. The latter just smiles genuinely, like he is truly having fun when everyone else are tensing up.

“My dear Kuroko seems confused, I don’t like it, so I want to play with him over there,” said him, pulling Kuroko’s hand to a swan of Angels not too far away from them. He didn’t wait for the others’ responds, he just does what he wanted.

The angels, at first are shocked, some of them are even scared by the Devil, but then soon enough, Akashi and the other two angels can see that all of them are blending in fine. Kiyoshi and Kuroko seem welcomed here, they all have this smile saying, ‘I want to be your friend’.

He can’t help it, a chuckled creaked out from his lips. “I guess today is too early for him. We will go home for today, thank you for having us.”

Kagetora shakes his head. “Well you see, Kuroko is more than welcomed here, you guys can come anytime you want. But let me be clear with you, Lord of Envy…”

Akashi looks at him in the eye. Those are the eyes that contain responsibility, confidence, and family feelings. Akashi knew he can’t beat those eyes now. No, not yet. “What is it?”

“We want him to come here out of his own free will.”

Akashi doesn’t say anything upon this. He just stares blankly at the older angel. Riko continues on Kagetora’s behalf. “It’s pointless if you want him to stay alive when he doesn’t even feel like it. I must say, your choice of bringing him to us is wise, but if it isn’t what he wanted, then we can’t help you any more than that. The Goddess are the rare being, after all.”

“I understand what you wish to imply. I will ask him after this.”

“As for now, let’s just let them be,” said Kagetora with a soft smile. They all agree and silently watch Kuroko and Kiyoshi getting along with the rest angels. Izuki with his lame jokes, Mitobe with his silent mother-figure, Furihata with his weak self-confidence and others.

“This is a nice place for him, indeed…” mumbled Akashi, smiling. Irony, coming from the Envy.

~~~

“So, you see, nothing much happened actually. We were playing with the angels until Akashi finally decided that it was time for us to go home. Well, it was turning dark, I really didn’t realize it…”

Kiyoshi leans his body against his chair, taking a few sips of Mibuchi’s tea. “This is really delicious, Mibuchi! You really make the best tea!” his face turning soft, like an old man who is really enjoying his tea time with his friends.

“Why, thank you. You can have a second or third if you want, Kiyoshi,” replied Mibuchi, happy with the comment.

“Ha… how nice… I want to go to the angels too, if only I am capable of doing that…” Hayama sighed, his face shows he is sulking, but then it’s brighten when he looks at Kiyoshi. “Na, Kiyoshi. How is the Beasts? I want to hear about them!”

“Hmm, you mean Kise’s and Momoi’s little vacation…?”

“I wouldn’t call it a vacation, though… The Beasts are furious last night too,” Imayoshi mumbled, staring outside. Kiyoshi smiles after took a glance at him.

“Well, as for them… I don’t really know, because Kise and Momoi didn’t give a full report yet. I guess tomorrow… but they will meet Akashi in private, I can’t eavesdropping or anything…”

“Hey, do you have any intention of wanting to do your works properly tomorrow…?” asked Nebuya, before he stands up. Kiyoshi just laughs like usual, and asks him where did he wanted to go. “Well, I have a little works left, so I will see you guys later.”

“Okay~” Hayama gave him a respond while the others just nod their head.

“Hey, Imayoshi,” called Hanamiya. Imayoshi turned to him, asking ‘what?’ with his expression only. Hanamiya points at his own neck, “Did you snapped your neck or what?” And in the blink of an eye, Imayoshi’s face changed. He looks a little bit annoyed now. Mibuchi and the others look at each other, exchanging questions.

“Ah… a beast bit it,” is his only answer. Kiyoshi is done with his signature, so Imayoshi takes it, wanting to leave now.

“Aomine-kun sure is a beast, huh…” Kiyoshi said. And that, making the sly demon freezes at his spot. Slowly, he turns to Kiyoshi. “Pardon?”

“Eh, what- did I say something that I shouldn’t?!” stuttered Kiyoshi, making his subordinate laugh at this situation. Imayoshi has enough of this, he face-palmed himself. “Really, you? Huh…” sighed him, unbelievable.

“Ne, Imayoshi,” called Mibuchi. Imayoshi looks at him in return. “I noticed this for a while now, but you really didn’t notice that Aomine likes you, right?”

“What?”

Hayama laughs. “Haha! Right, and he is so clueless about it.”

“Heh…” Hanamiya chuckled. “So you guys actually hooked up? Uwa…”

“Wait- why are you guys talking about him, I said a beast-”

“And we all know you won’t let a beast bite you…”

Imayoshi’s face turned to red. He is sweating a lot, even if the room is actually chilly to feel hot. “What… am I the only one who know absolutely nothing about him liking me?”

“That’s weird, coming from someone who craves for information like you,” was Mibuchi’s respond.

“You are pretty dense about this, huh…” was Hayama’s reaction.

“Eh?! I thought it was obvious that he likes you?!” was Kiyoshi’s and Hanamiya just laughs his ass off. And that is the last thing Imayoshi needs for now.

Seriously, am I blind or what these past decades?!

~~~

Okamura and Fukui stares at him without any words. They can’t focus on their own works like this… and it’s almost afternoon. The main reason actually does not realizes this- well, how could he, if he didn’t even look anywhere other than his paper works. Oh yes, paper works are to blame. If not for those stupid documents, they will have lesser works to do.

“Okamura-san, Fukui-san, what are you two doing…?” a voice startled them both, either messed up the papers or bumped their bodies to the desk or chair.

“We- Wei… You startled me…” Okamura said, turning to him for a moment before continues on staring at Murasakibara again.

“I can see that. My question is, why are you two keep bloody staring at Murasakibara?” Wei walks to Murasakibara’s desk. He takes some documents, not disturbing the focus Murasakibara at all, before coming to his senpais again.

Cover in sweat, Fukui glances at him. “Wei, have our Lord actually did any work ever since he became the Lord?” Wei shakes his head. “Had he actually being serious about anything- seriously, anything other than food- before?!” Again, Wei shakes his head.

“And that’s precisely why, me and Okamura is keeping bloody stare at the actual Lord there! Even before we came to the room, he keeps working and working, his characteristic as the Gluttony is in great danger…!”

“I don’t see any danger in that,” replied Wei, taking a glance at Murasakibara. “If anything, isn’t this a good thing?” Then, without a warning, he walks closer to the Devil, tapping him at the shoulder.

“Hn~? Ah, what is it, Wei-chin…” the Devil stopped his work and turned to his subordinate. It's not often for Wei to interrupt him doing something.

“Murasakibara, I want to ask you. You kept going to the village this past few days… were you in a good terms with someone there?”

“What?! I didn’t know that…” said Fukui, his face showed that he does not believe what he just heard.

Murasakibara, ignoring him, nods his head. “Yeah… I met Muro-chin. He is a good demon, I like him..”

“What do you mean you like him?!”

Again, ignoring Fukui, Wei smiles a little- which surprised everyone. “Then he must be a very good demon. You are going to meet him after this, that’s why you are so fired up on completing this works of yours, right?” Murasakibara nods without any hesitation.

“Then, how about you ask him to join the office works, not the field, Lord? It might be a good idea to have someone here to motivate you to…”

He can’t finish his sentence, Murasakibara’s eyes glitters with stars, and his face is determined. “That’s a brilliant idea, Wei-chin! I never thought about that… I will ask him now!” And there he disappears through the door. One could ask why he didn’t use his smoke magic, but… nevermind.

“Hey, Wei… Why don’t you ask us first, before you suggest that kind of brilliant idea…” asked Okamura, actually clueless about what will happen now. Good, there will be a new demon here, now?

Wei just smiles at him, his eyes are calm. “Isn’t it a good idea though? You guys are curious about this new guy who can change our Gluttony, too.”

“Well…”

Meanwhile, Murasakibara again, comes to the village, and are greeted by ever demon who passed by him. Well, they are not exaggerating anymore, calling and looking at him like he is a God or something… They all smile and welcomed him here like how Wei Liu and the others do.

Himuro must has told them something… definitely.

“Muro-chin…” he called when he saw the familiar figures resting near the forest. Oh yes, this is one thing he realized about Himuro. The demon always, and will always sits or rests near the thick forest. Does he knows the danger inside of the warned forest?

“Ah, Atsushi! You come today, again,” laughed Himuro, wiping sweat from his face. He is soaking sweat, and that’s a sexy sight that Murasakibara likes… not that he will tell anyone though. Uh… but, Himuro is famous with everyone… the females like him… and the demon isn’t harsh to ignore them.

Suddenly, Murasakibara felt down, and his face turned moody a little, making Himuro actually wonders what is going on inside the Devil’s mind. “Atsushi…? What’s wrong? Do you have something to tell me today?”

And Wei’s idea come to his mind again. Not wasting any time, his face sparkles again. He is too excited, he even grabs Himuro’s dirty (not sure to call it dirty, because Himuro is not dirty at all! Yet… he is working with mud and plants so… I don’t know) hand and holds it like he won’t let go again. “Mu… Muro-chin! I was thinking… that maybe… you want to work at my office…?”

Himuro, for respond, still smiling, didn’t budge even an inch and just stares blankly at the taller one. Murasakibara is still grinning happily, like he is sure that this is really a wonderful idea and all. Well, Wei does not makes joke, and almost every idea that came from him is wise enough.

“Na, Muro-chin? You will come right?”

Himuro chuckles a little, letting out a positive sigh. “Atsushi…”

“Hn?”

“I am sorry, but no.”

“Eh?”

And the smiles died immediately.


	7. Another Shocking News?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone seems to be confused with this story haha I am sorry, I should explain it to you guys enough in this chapter. If you still have questions, please comment okay~
> 
> Sa, dozo~~

Kuroko stares silently towards the two figures in front of him. Yesterday, he went to the angels and after they sent Kiyoshi home (it’s been a while since he last visited the Sloth, so Kiyoshi asked him to), Akashi invited him to sleep the night at his mansion. As he figured, he was given a spacious room for himself, Akashi is on the other room. It was so lonely, he had troublse shutting his eyes off. And when he was awake, it wasn’t even sunrise yet. What a way to start a day.

After talking a little to Akashi, saying thanks and all, he slowly walked to his own house, expecting Takao to still asleep. And yes, the human is sleeping now, but what Kuroko didn’t expect to see is Midorima, sleeping peacefully besides the human.

‘I guess it is not worth to worry about this two…’ he thought while a smile slipped from his lips. Slowly, he closes the door, walks to them, quietly shaking Midorima’s shoulder a bit. “Midorima-kun, please wake up…”

“Hn… Kuroko…?” and again, Kuroko is surprised. It was Takao who woke up then. The human rubs his eye, still sleepy. Oh, yes. That’s something that Kuroko noticed for a while now. Takao is hard to wake up in the morning, but when he do, he is full of energy. Complicated and mysterious.

“I am sorry, Takao-kun. You can go back to sleep if you want,” smiled Kuroko, patting Takao’s head like he is a child. The latter shakes his head, barely able to speak.

“No… I want to take a bath now… Maybe today we can explore the forest or something…” he mumbled, while his body tried to get up. If anything, Kuroko will think that he is sleep-talking, but the human had already went to the bathroom.

A moment passed by, and Kuroko fixes his gaze on Midorima again. For his surprise, the demon actually has woke up. “I thought you were still asleep. Are you that exhausted?”

And there it is -the usual frowning on his face. “What are you talking about -nanodayo? Did you just arrived? Where is Takao?”

Kuroko lend him a hand to sit up. It seems that both Takao and Midorima were sharing the bed together, which has been enough big surprise for Kuroko. “I slept at Akashi’s and just came home. I found that you two were sleeping together, and I thought you wanted me to wake you up first… But it seems that Takao did before you.”

“And now where is he -nanodayo?”

“Taking a bath.”

Midorima didn’t say anything afterwards, he just shuts his eyes for a while, before wearing his glasses. “You must be tired, go have some sleep back,” he said to Kuroko. And the Goddess replies with a shake. “Thank you, but I am fine. Midorima-kun, you…” he stopped his sentence.

“What?”

Again, Kuroko shakes his head. “It might be just my imagination, but do you like Takao-kun?”

“Excuse me?”

“I was totally surprised when I saw you guys sleeping together. You hardly did that with me, too.”

“Wait, what are you trying to say, Kuroko-”

“You let your guard down when you were with a human, Midorima-kun.”

Midorima flinches a little, fighting Kuroko’s gaze. True, he didn’t realize it. Takao makes him feel at ease, he actually spent the sleeping time together. His original plan was to relax a bit when he came yesterday, but Takao was too full-spirited yesterday because he just slept, so the human consistently disturbed his little relaxing time. They fought a little (with words only of course), and Midorima in the end accompanied Takao to cook and eat with him too. And the rest of the night, Midorima asked Takao so many questions as he was curious why didn’t the sins work on him and such.

Well, when he found out that Kazunari Takao is actually just a usual human being, he wanted to ask another question, but then Takao had already sleep soundly besides him. And even if he was frustrated, when he saw how peaceful that face was, he couldn’t help himself but sleeps too.

“So we ended up actually slept on the same bed?” he asked. Kuroko nods a little. In a blink of an eye, Midorima’s face change again. But this time, he is more confused than ever, Kuroko swears that was the second time he saw the stern Midorima made that kind of face. The first time was their first encounter.

“Midorima-kun, having said that, I am worried about Takao-kun,” said Kuroko, looking at the door that connects the way to other rooms. One of them, is bathroom. “He said he wanted to take a bath, but I didn’t hear anything for a while now. Can you please check on him?”

“Why don’t you do it -nanodayo?”

“Because I want to lay down, like you asked me to.”

Midorima shot a look at him. One second he said he is fine, another he said he wanted to lay down. What is wrong with their little Goddess? “Then please take a good rest,” he replied while walking towards the bathroom. When he is in front of the door, he knocks it. “Hey, Takao. Are you there?”

No words come out as a reply, making Midorima’s heart beats faster. No, not actually faster… but he is certain that his heart is not like usual. “Hey, I am opening it.”

“Hn…?”

There, a half-naked Takao is standing with his beautiful back facing Midorima. The look on Takao’s face shows that he is sleepy, yet the half-opened gray eyes of him, face half-turned to him, makes Midorima speechless. And that is one splendid human's back he is looking at.

“Ah, Shin-chan… I am sorry, you wanted to use the bathroom?” The human just about to turn his body up front, but then Midorima stops him. “No- I don’t! You didn’t reply when I called, so I thought I wanted to check… It’s fine -nanodayo,” sighed the green.

Takao seems to not understand much, but he still smiles softly at the Devil. “Well, I am fine, but the Haori takes time to take off,” he said while he walks slowly to the right side of the bathroom, where it is a little more spacious to take off clothes, and that’s where he is supposed to hang the clothes while he soaks in bath after all.

“Hey, don’t you think you should consider my presence here -nanodayo? You humans are too carefree when it comes to us, Devils…”

“Shin-chan, don’t nagging when we are in a bathroom… It echoes in here, my ears hurt…”

“Stupid human…”

“Hey, I told you, I am not stupid!” Takao turned around aggressively, with face pouting and still sleepy. He looks like he is a drunkard or something… makes the Devil actually smirks a little. “Yes, right. Anyway, I am going back now. Don’t fall asleep in the bathroom -nanodayo.”

“Humph… You always belittle me, you are not that great too when you were sleepy yesterday!” he said, turning his body around again. And this time, the floor is a little slippery, and Takao loses his balance. “Woah!”

“Hey- wait, be careful!” It was too late, Takao falls with his back first, and Midorima did his best to catch him, making him fell too. “Ow… I told you to be careful -nanodayo…”

“Ugh… thank you, Shin-chan…” the human rubbed his head, but he didn’t feel that hurt at all. Then, he blinks for a second. He stares blankly at Midorima, who is still holding him fine, it looks like they were trapping each other. Both of them are okay, that’s good but Midorima is soaking wet now. A moment passed, and Midorima suddenly lets go of Takao in hurry. Yeah, so typical.

“You… really should be more aware of your surrounding -nanodayo! Thank goodness Kise is not here…” sighed Midorima, face is troubled by how defenseless the human actually is. “And you are not even sorry…”

“Eh? But Shin-chan, you are the one who barged in…”

“That’s because I am-”

“Huh…?” asked Takao when Midorima suddenly stopped talking. The Devil didn’t finish his last sentence, and his face is so messed up now. And then, without a word, Midorima leaves the bathroom, door closed, and quickly mumbles something. In a flash, his clothes turn dry, even his hair is. But his expression is not changing to normal.

“Midorima-kun? Is everything alright?” Kuroko sit up when he saw Midorima walks away quickly from the bathroom. The taller one is frowning even harder than before.

When he turned to face Kuroko, somehow he calmed down and managed to force a smile out. “I am going to my mansion for now. If you need me or anything, contact me like you usually did -nanodayo.” And he disappears in the black smoke, leaving Kuroko dumbfounded.

Patiently, he waits for Takao to return from the bathroom. It takes a while for the human, until Kuroko actually is worried again, but then Takao shows up. Kuroko can’t help but felt a great relief when Takao smiles like usual at him.

“Hey, Kuroko. What’s wrong with Shin-chan?”

Kuroko laughs hearing the nickname Takao gave, but replies anyway. “I don’t know myself. He seems troubled, I guess he is just worried that he might be late for his office work.” Takao didn’t say anything, he just looks towards the door.

“Takao-kun, you really are a special human…” said Kuroko, almost whispering to himself, but the silent morning helps Takao to hear him. The human turns to him, face is puzzled by his words.

“Before I ask you anything, Kuroko…” called Takao. The Goddess looks at him in return. “Welcome home.” And just like that, the loneliness that Kuroko felt from last night disappears, turning to a warm and cozy feeling instead.

With his head down, Kuroko smiles widely, which Takao noticed before he goes to the kitchen to make some nice hot tea.

“Kuroko,” he called again when he came back. He gives Kuroko a cup, and sits beside him. “Imayoshi-san said the same thing before. I am special. What do you mean by that?”

Well, if anything, he considers himself as a bored human. He lived his life to the fullest doing things he wanted, yet he felt a little sorrow inside. Not quite sorrow, like… nothing. He was happy, yes. But somewhere inside his happiness, he felt nothing.

So when he came here, and everyone was like he is special… he can’t help but wonders about it.

“Why am I special?”

Kuroko turns his gaze to him first, before slowly sipping his tea. Takao didn’t look away, he patiently wait for Kuroko to enjoy his morning tea.

At last, he puts his cup away. “Takao-kun, in this dimension, everything you find in here is not immortal at all. In fact, we are more fragile that you, human.”

“Eh?! Even if you guys are much more powerful than humans?”

Kuroko nods. “We are alive as long as we are remembered by someone -whatever being it is, as long as they remember us, we are alive. Or else… we will disappear, just like that. In this dimension, as far as I knew, there are angels, devils and demons, beasts, and lastly goddess. Souls, humans, and animals are not meant to be here. If you stay for too long, you will perish, and died.”

“Now that you mention it, how long have I stay here?”

“Five days, but in human world, it is only five hours.”

“Wow… I didn’t know time works so differently here,” amazed Takao, his eyes widened in awe. Kuroko smiles at him.

“Don’t worry, Takao-kun. I will send you home when the time comes. I will not let you die in vain here,” assured Kuroko, making Takao relaxed a little. He continues, “Do you remember the lost soul we found before? I asked Kise-kun to take care of him.” Takao nods. “Well, I did so because everything that is not from this dimension is a food for us. You, and him are in a great danger if we didn’t do anything about it.”

“And that’s why I get to stay with you, and he is with Kisecchi…” mumbled Takao, thinking deeply. “But why did you ask Kisecchi to do it? While I am with you, why is he with the Devil?”

Kuroko stays quiet for a moment then, making Takao actually wonders if he asked something that is rude to mention or something… “Err, Kuroko, if it is a sensitive topic, then-”

“No, I believe in you, Takao-kun. I will tell you about it.”

“Eh? Oh, okay then… I guess? But if it is really hard for you then…”

“No, please listen to me until the end,” Kuroko shook his head. “In this dimension, unlike in the Soul Dimension, we the Goddess are the rarest one to exist. One hardly notices me, even I never meet with other Goddess, if there is any. Our presence seems to lit one’s lust and whoever found us, if they are a weak being, will try and… mark me.”

Then, Kuroko flinches a little when Takao suddenly puts his cup away too, eyes on him. Kuroko looks at the human, confused. Without saying anything, Takao hugs the Goddess strongly that they fell safely onto the bed, Takao’s body on top of Kuroko’s, and that’s when he realized that he himself is shivering, and Takao’s body is so warm… he feels like he will melt.

“By mark… you mean, something like… rape?”

Slowly, Kuroko nods. “I didn’t know about this too, until one day I found a human. He didn’t notice me unlike you, but once I touched him, he saw me and-”

“You don’t need to say the word. I understand it already. Then, what happened?” hushed Takao, cutting Kuroko’s words again. He can feel rage is swelling inside him, but more than anything, he feels pity for Kuroko. He can’t imagine how terror Kuroko felt that time.

“...Fortunately, Aomine-kun came and rescued me. I was saved, but since then, they built this house and guarded me from any kind of beings that live here. In one way, they protected me… but as they grew more powerful, they have other important tasks to do… while I am still here.”

A moment of silent passes again, and Kuroko does not know what to say anymore. Takao being quiet is a little problematic for him, as he is not familiar with it. He tries to shake Takao’s shoulder, but then he realizes his own left shoulder is a little wet now. Takao rests his head there, which means…

“Takao-kun, why are you crying?”

“B- But! Yesterday… I can’t even bear the loneliness for half an hour- and a life that depends on others like this is definitely, absolutely terrifying! I tried to imagine I am at your place, and the thought of them forgetting me even for a second is…!”

If they ever forget about you, even for a millisecond, you will die. What kind of nature law allows that to happen?

Kuroko smiles softly at this. He squeezes Takao’s shoulder, trying to calm him down. “That’s what I thought at first… But, Takao-kun, I am still here, you see? They never forget about me, even for a second.”

After a while, Takao laughs. “Hey… why are you the one pampering me when I am the one who should do that?” Kuroko shrugs his shoulder, eyes are softer than before, and his smile is gentler than yesterday’s. “Kuroko, you said they left you for 10 years… but was that in my world, or yours?”

“Who knows.”

Takao sighs again. “I don’t know what to say anymore. How could- ugh…” he rolled over to the other side, and exhales properly. “Kuroko you are strong, huh… I don’t know what should I do if I were to be left alone.”

Again, Kuroko smiles at him. “But you are strong too, to be able to influence us too much already.”

“Huh?” Takao turned to him. “Influence who?”

“Because you are here, almost all of the Devils came here again. You changed their perspective about humans all thoroughly. As far as I know, Aomine-kun never gives anyone his energy, even a little. Murasakibara-kun too, never listens to anyone other than Akashi-kun and his trusted people. Kise-kun did not really care about human before, let alone calling them cute. And Midorima-kun, he always refuses to sleep alone with anyone, unless there were third party.”

Takao’s expression does not change for the first three seconds, but after that… his face turns to a tomato. So red, Kuroko even laughs a little. “Oh, yes. Takao-kun, other than the other seven Devils, you are the only human who make me laughs so often.”

“St- Stop it already! I am embarrassed to hear this thing about changing anymore!” he covered his red face, trying to control his heartbeat as he feels like Kuroko will hear it if it is loud enough. “Ku… Kuroko, there is only one thing left that I am bothered about…” he took a peek at Kuroko, who actually keeps staring at him.

Can’t stand the stare anymore, Takao sits up. He averts his eyes, not meeting Kuroko’s face at all. “Why did you go to the angels?”

Again, Takao’s question is treated silently by Kuroko, who didn’t budge an inch when he asked. Takao, wondering if he asked something rude again, fixes his gaze on Kuroko’s face, but then he realizes that Kuroko didn’t say anything because he wanted Takao to look at him.

“You… really are a stubborn Goddess…”

Kuroko laughs softly. “As I said before, if we are forgotten, then we will vanish. While the being in here are forgetful like any ordinary human being, Akashi and the others are worried that the day will actually comes when they really do forget about me. To prevent that to happen, they wanted me to live with the angels. Well, Goddess should be with angels from the beginning…”

“Says who?”

“Yes?”

“Which law states that you should be with the angels? You can actually live with the Devils too, right? It is up to you who you want to live with, not them!”

“...Takao-kun, I really appreciate your feelings. You really are straight-forward and says whatever comes into your mind.”

“Eh? Is that bad?”

Kuroko smiles. “Well, the seductive part about the Goddesses do not affected the angels, whether they are strong or weak. So the angels are the safest for me to be with.”

“But do you actually want to?!”

“Eh?”

Kuroko looks at Takao, who is staring at him in a weird way. Well, not really weird, but Kuroko can’t describe what that face meant to tell him. Takao seems angry, but he is not. He looks a little sad, but he is not completely sad. If Kuroko says he is puzzled, well it’s not quite true… Kuroko doesn’t know anymore.

“Do you want to live with the angels, Kuroko?” this time, Takao asked with a weak smile. Kuroko does not has an answer for this, so he just lets the question slips by.

“Well, I have enough answers already. Thank you, Kuroko,” Takao stood up. He takes the cups and walks to the hallway. “For today…” he said while he stopped walking. Then he turns away and grins at Kuroko. “What about we eat outside today? The wind is surprisingly calm this morning, right?”

Kuroko smiles at him. “Yes, please.”

~~~

“...So, please tell us why did you suddenly decided that to appear and disturb our nice breakfast, Kise-kun.”

Kise flinches a little, he barely looks at Kuroko who is giving an intimidating aura. “I- I am sorry, Kurokocchi, Takaocchi… I didn’t think that you will still having a breakfast now…”

“Well, unlike a certain group of Devils, we don’t have any servants to serve us so we just enjoyed our time and were about to eat the exact breakfast before a certain yellow appeared out of nowhere while whining things that we do not understand.”

“Ku- Kuroko! That was too long!” laughed Takao, tears flow from his eyes as he laughed too hard. While, Kise feels even more guilty after that. “Now, now~ Let’s not be too harsh on him. We can listen to his story while we enjoy our breakfast too, right Kuroko?”

Sighing, Kuroko nods his head. Quietly, he walks to the table which has always been outside the house, in terms they wanted to eat outside, like today. Takao laughs again when Kuroko then just eats normally like nothing actually happened. “So, Kisecchi, have you eat yet?” Kise nods eagerly.

“Alright, then don’t mind us eating while you talking~” he giggled, biting his first meal for today. Kise nods again, his mood was fixed immediately and he takes one of the empty seats nearby.

“We-well, you see… About the lost soul you asked me to take care…” he began.

“Oh, I have been wondering about that too. How is he?”

“Well, he is fine, thank you, and we are being friends after day one. Well, I want to talk about him, but not quite him.”

They both stop eating. “Kise-kun, that’s confusing. Please explain it in detail if you ever intend to tell us the story,” said Kuroko.

“Kurokocchi, aren’t you being too cold towards me today?! What happened, Takaocchi?!!” he cried again while turned to Takao to hug the human. Takao laughs again, patting the Devil’s hair. It’s hard to do that when the one who hug has horns… they almost poke through his head. (haha lol)

~~~

He felt a squeeze at his right hand, and he immediately smiles at the pink girl. “Are you alright, Momoicchi?” he asked with a gentle smile on his lips. There are nothing that surrounds them other than darkness, plants, and uneasiness. It’s been a while since they explore the forest, so Kise understands if Momoi is actually feeling scared or such.

The girl nods in sweat. “I am fine, this is not scary at all! B-But, can I hold your hand though, Ki-chan?”

Kise laughs softly. “You asked that when you has already squeezed it… But, of course, if anything shows up, then I will protect you, Momoicchi! We are in this together!”

“Right! Let’s just get this over with, and then we can come home!” said the girl firmly. Well, she still pushes Kise to walk in front of her, and follows closely to the yellow Devil. They walks and walks non-stop and finally, they heard sounds of lively chattering, talking, and laughing. Kise unleashes a little of his aura, enough to let him know there is a huge civilization ahead of them.

Kise and Momoi exchange looks, and they both gather their courage to take a step forward, when suddenly Momoi realizes that they have been discovered.

“This is bad… Ki-chan, don’t let your guard down,” said her, voice was serious and her expression changes. Kise nods, getting ready if anything bad happens anytime soon. “We are sorry that we came uninvited, we do not mean any harm at all.”

The atmosphere immediately turns silent. There are no birds chirping, the laughing voices earlier disappear just like that. Kise and Momoi both do not know where should they focus their eyes to, but their colourful aura slowly surround them, guarding them.

“If you were saying the truth, then drop that guard of yours. We shall not believe your words unless you do so.” Suddenly, the voice echoes in the dark forest. But well, Kise thought the voice sounds familiar to his ears somehow… Who was it?

Kise and Momoi again, exchange their looks and then, they both shake their heads. “We will, if only you will show yourself. Our life are in danger here too.”

“Huh. Smart talk. Well done, I will show myself. Stick to your words.”

Kise smirks. “Pardon me, but Devils manipulate souls, we do not break our words.” And after that, exactly in front of him, just a few steps away from him, a beast walks out. He walks with two legs, hands and most part of his bodies are covered with light black -almost gray furs. He has fangs, and has not human-like ears, but animal-like. The nails are long and sharp. It could rip apart any skin easily. But this beast wears thick-skin pants, and a black singlet to cover his upper body.

Immediately, Kise and Momoi drops their aura, and just like that, the fun atmosphere returns.

“I guess so. Now, follow me, I will take you to the village.”

“Ki-chan… why do you seems shocked?” Momoi whispered to him, and they both could see the beast’s ears reacted to her. “No point in whispering then. Ki-chan, what’s wrong?”

Kise shakes his head, mouth is sealed, he only fixes his eyes on the beast. It does not take them too much time to arrive at the said village, and the tour-guide beast is still leading them the way. Kise realizes that he chooses the unused path, where there is no beast kids at all. Only a number of adult beast, not too old, Momoi guesses they are in their prime too.

“Here, wait here then. I will bring you our leader,” the beast said, not looking at the Devils at all. “I warn you though, do not go anywhere if you want to avoid trouble.”

“Ah- wait!” without realising it himself, Kise caught the beast’s hand- which the beast reacts to violently- the beast snapped and almost tear his fingers. But there is still blood though.

“Ki-chan!”

“Do not touch me, Devil!” snarled the beast. Kise, looked dumbstruck by the incident, stares at him confusingly. The beast flinches and looks away. “What do you want? I need to call leader-”

“Hey… What is your name?”

“Huh?” the beast looked at him. Now they both stare at each other without blinking. “Don’t be cocky, brat. You should tell me your own name before you ask mine.”

“Hey, Ki-chan just wants to know your name! And you didn’t even apologize for the-”

“Momoicchi, it’s okay, really,” giggled Kise. He looks at Momoi to assure her, then he turns to the waiting beast. “My name is Kise Ryouta. What is yours?”

The beast stares at him. Kise realizes this, but ‘their’ height are the same. The same spiky black hair and sharp steel blue eyes. How ‘they’ frown is the same too… There is no obvious difference other than ‘their’ appearances.

“Kasamatsu. Kasamatsu Yukio.” and he leaves the two Devils alone.

“What was that for?! Ki-chan, are you okay?!” asked Momoi, worries all over her face, she took Kise’s bleeding hand, and said some chants. Then, in a blink his fingers are not bleeding anymore. It become flawless again.

Kise does not say anything to answer her, he is in deep thought, and everything else does not matters to him for now.

Well yes, he never thought about this. Of course, all of them have their own dimension. The human Takao is from the Human world. Kise is this dimension’s Devil. The lost soul too, is from the Human World. Each dimension has the same people in them, and all of them are not supposed to meddle with any others. That means…

There is Yukiocchi from this world too. There are Kise from other worlds too. There will be this dimension’s Takaocchi too.

“What the…” mumbled him, expression is confused than ever. All of the thought suddenly drains his energy.

“Ki-chan! Are you actually okay?” shouted the girl, getting impatient with Kise’s half-ass answer.

“Boy, aren’t you so energetic today? Kise-kun and Momoi-chan have become proper teenagers!” the unknown voice startled them. They both look at the front door, which stands a beautiful blonde female beast. She has stripes under her eyes, which tells people that she is a tiger. And she is taller than Momoi, yet she does not reach Kise’s height.

“Er… do you know us?”

“Why, you guys met me when you were kids!” the beast grinned happily. “I am hurt! You forgot me already? I am Alex, you see… Alexandra!”

~~~

The tapping sounds, the quiet atmosphere and the loud heartbeat that only Imayoshi can hear. All of it is perfect, and calming him. All of this, except the stares he receives from the very moment he took a step inside of the cold room.

“Aomine-kun… have you do your works?”

“...Yeah. No…”

‘Which is it?’ is what echoes inside of Imayoshi’s throat. The Devil seems to be lack in spirit, which is not that unusual as the Greed is almost every day like that, but this time, Imayoshi knows something feels off.

‘But oh well, I have to submit this documents as fast as I can, so…’ he thought, and he continues doing his tasks. For the entire time, he can’t help but feels like he is chocked, the air is limited and his fingers are not that fluent anymore.

For the next hours, he somehow manages to complete the damn tiring task, and stretches his body. “Sakurai,” he called. The next second then, the called demon shows up with his usual gesture. Well for now, he clutches onto thick books. “Yes, Imayoshi-san?” The superior demon smiles at him.

“Here, this documents need to be send to the Pride’s Lord. Please make sure the Lord himself receives this.”

“Yes, I am sorry! I will be gone now! Thank you, I am sorry!” and he disappears. Just like how he came, he leaves with the door locked from the inside.

“Now…” sighed Imayoshi, fixing his spectacles and then calming himself. He tidies his desk, even tosses the useless papers to the rubbish bin. After some time, he turns around. Exactly towards his Lord.

“Greed Lord, have you finish your works?” he took a steps forward. Aomine, still stares at him, does not even bother to move even a finger. His back is leaned against the chair, his tie is loose, and he doesn’t wear his other usual upper clothes other than the dark ocean blue shirt.

“Already done it…” the Devil mumbled. “You keep asking the same question over and over… so annoying.”

“Maybe that is because you keep staring at me, from the very beginning,” and now he is precisely besides Aomine, body facing the Devil while the Devil himself turns only his head towards him. Imayoshi didn’t wait long, he places his butt on the desk, his left leg was put at Aomine’s chair. “What’s wrong today actually?”

“...Nothing particular.”

“Not a very good liar, aren’t you?”

“Compare to you, yes.”

“Aomine-kun, you do know that the others are infected by your mood today too, don’t you?”

The Devil doesn’t reply to him, making Imayoshi smiles wider. “I can’t turn my back when I know you are in trouble, Aomine-kun. You don’t want to tell me anything, really?”

“It’s creepy when you try to be all nice, stupid four-eyes…”

Imayoshi laughs. “I am always nice, you see…”

“Yeah, right…” Aomine smirked at him. “Says the one who cause the big ruckus just because I gave some human my powers.” Imayoshi doesn’t say anything then, but his smile is still there. Aomine can’t help but smiles when he remembered that day.

“Stupid idiot with his own speculation…”

“Why are you changing our topic, Aomine-kun?”

“...”

Imayoshi sighs, feeling troubled as they will not get anywhere if this goes on. His Lord is in a really, really deep maze, and Imayoshi is not that dense to not realize the whole obvious thing.

“Tetsu… it seems that we left him for too long, didn’t we?”

Imayoshi is surprised. He stares at the moody Greed in front of him, eyes are not on him. “You can visit him now and again, you know? And you care for him too much, he will not disappear from your mind…”

And after that, without any warning, Aomine pulls Imayoshi into his arms. Imayoshi, losing his balance was stuttered but then realizes that Aomine just wants to hug him, and that is… well, unexpected. “Aomi-”

“We are alone now, you can call me Daiki.”

Imayoshi doesn’t respond to him immediately. He takes his usual breath back, trying to stay composed. “Daiki. So now, what makes you feel so moody all day?”

“Nothing… I just thought about the whole nature law, how Kuroko will live from now on, and will I be able to live then honestly, if I actually did forget about him…” sighed the Devil.

“Wow, I didn’t expect to hear those from your mouth.”

“And I thought about how to shut your mouth too.”

“I am sorry,” was Imayoshi’s immediate answer. His ears can’t fool himself, he heard Aomine’s chuckling. Somehow, when they are alone together here in this cold, big room, Imayoshi can’t help but feels Aomine’s warm body, moreover when they are hugging like this on a damn throne.

This feels wrong. Pleasantly wrong.

“So you just want to cuddle up like this tonight?” asked Imayoshi, trying to look at Aomine’s face. But he was being hugged like this, he can’t really turn his face.

“What, you expected things?”

“I am just asking. Please don’t have any weird ideas.”

“Huh… well, I am not into the mood. Just lend me your body as a good, quiet pillow for now.”


	8. Let's play, ne?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intend to make it longer as an apology... but I guess let's save that for later hehe  
> Thank you for sticking with me~
> 
> So please, enjoy this chapter~

For the rest of the day, it is disaster. Truly, annoyingly disaster. Wei doesn’t know if he actually was wrong for the first time, and when their Gluttony returned from the village, it was unexpectedly hard to ask him how was it going on… The Gluttony seems dead for the first time, but his eyes were different. At least, that’s what he thought.

But well, the Lord still have the appetite to eat his lunch. It just that, he won’t utter a word, and his eyes felt like they are crying when they truly not.

Fukui, unable to bear this any longer, sighs and stands up in the middle of their lunch. Oh, in Gluttony mansion, the upper guys need to eat together, the law of the first Gluttony, and one cannot runs away from it unless they have a good reason.

“Say, Murasakibara…” called him. The said guy looks at him in return. “Did he refused your offer?”

One second.

Two second.

Three second.

And the deadly aura of the Lord suddenly menacing through the entire room, making every single one of them feel sickened. “Mura- Murasakibara! Stop with this torture, tell us what happened actually!” Okamura stood up too, clenching his necktie. Well, almost everyone did the same. They feel so out of breath- the sight of the delicious food in front of them now makes them want to puke of disgust.

“Ah. So- Sorry!” the Lord stood up too, realized he was messing up the room into quite a bad shape. He seems confused, and his aura slowly fades. “I am…”

“Murasakibara, I am sorry for giving you ideas to offer the Himuro to work in the office… He declined, didn’t he?”

Murasakibara looks at Wei with a puzzled face. “He- He did… Though he didn’t give me the reasons…”

Murasakibara stares at the ground again. He never felt this miserable before. He doesn’t even know why did he feel rejected- it’s not like anyone had not tell ‘no’ to him before. Masa-chin always tell him no too. But when Muro-chin told him so…

“I am sorry, but no.” That was what Himuro said with a very tender smile. Murasakibara almost thought that the smile was meant for him, but he realized it. The reason for the demon to decline his offer- that was what made him smile so happily like that. And immediately, his hopeful smile died.

“Well, Atsushi, I am glad that you came here today. But I have something else to do today, so I can’t accompany you all day like usual… Can you return to the mansion for now?” was what he said while he turned his head away. His hand looked like they were doing his works- his eyes were not focused on him too. He completely avoided his eyes.

And his smile felt so forced too- Murasakibara didn’t think of anything other than getting away from there as fast as he can and how much he wanted to rip off that fake smile.

And that thought scared him the most. That’s why he disappeared immediately.

“Ne, Wei…” after some time, Murasakibara called out Wei’s name. He looks so troubled, yet he is calmer than earlier. And that composure gives everyone chills.

“I am afraid of myself…” he sighed. “I know he had things to do too, and I kept getting in his way if I keep coming there everyday…”

“What, so you knew it already…” commented Fukui, felt relieved that one burden is off now.

“But when he was with me, he always welcomed me with that smile, you see? Like I was really welcomed there…”

“And then?”

“But today, I just want him to stop smiling.”

The others look at each other, feeling uneasy with what Murasakibara just confessed. Okamura is the first one to react though. He clears his throat before carefully chooses his word. “Hey, isn’t that sounds like you really, really… really love him?”

Murasakibara stares at him. “Well, yeah? I thought I told you?”

“No no no! Hey, Murasakibara, do you realize what you were saying?!” Fukui stood up, feeling miserable again. “If words are spread, you will have to face Nijimura-san again!”

“...Well, I do have the status, but it’s not like gender plays their role here…”

“Wait a damn minute! I didn’t expect to hear that from you! What happened to our usual Gluttony who is like the Sloth?!”

“...Fuku-chin, are you hungry perhaps? Want me to order extras for you?”

“Don’t think of me as you! Wah… what the hell happened?!”

“Fukui-san, please restrain your fatherly love towards Murasakibara. You need to let go of him one day, you know?” Wei looked at him with a pity face, which made Fukui even more enraged.

“What, Wei, how dare you-”

“Now, now… Fukui, you really love our Lord, huh…” and Okamura with his pleasant face- like he is really delighted- as the father figured.

“Mou, I had enough! Don’t talk to me for a moment!” and Fukui sits down again, actually pouting. He keeps eating after that, mumbling things only he will hear them.

“But now our problem is not solved yet. Murasakibara, maybe you should restrain yourself from going there for a while? Give both of you time to rethink things again perhaps?”

“Eh… that will be hard.”

Wei smiles softly. “You don’t want him to hate you, right?”

“Uwah… Wei-chin suddenly felt scary…” mumbled the Devil, averting his eyes. Okamura just laughs his heart off, the problem now seems settled for the time being. That’s good.

…Or is it really?

~~~

“I CAN’T SLEEP,” Murasakibara stared at the ceiling, face is pale and miserable, he wants to sleep, but he can’t. It is the same as he wants to eat, but he can’t. He will die, you know?! He will pathetically die!!

For the who-knows time, he sits from his bed. It’s been a very long time since he can’t sleep like this. It seems he cares for this matter with Muro-chin too much, it affects his nerve to sleep too…

“Wei-chin said I need to give him some space for now, but… Uhm, I just want to look at his face. That’s it. And then, I will come back here. Yes.”

And it will be trouble if I run into some troublesome guys, like before. So… let’s just use magic, yeah?

And what he find after that is a silent, cold house with no heat or warm lingering to it. “Muro-chin is not in his house…?” he looked around, making sure no one notices him here. Well, although the others are already familiar with him coming here at daylight, he and Himuro never mention about him coming at night too. Well, it will be troublesome if he would explain everything.

Eh, come to think of it… why did he came to Himuro when he was angry before?

Why did he came here just to see the demon’s face?

“It’s useless… I can’t think of an answer…” sighed him. Again, he looks around and then goes to the back side of the house. Sometimes, he caught Himuro went there, though he never goes there himself. Himuro won’t let him? Yeah, no. He never think about it.

“It’s actually nothing here…” Just a few stuff and that’s it. Just a few steps more, and he will be in the Jungle Territory. This house is really the nearest to the thick jungle… so, what did Himuro do when he came here?

“Agh… I need to stop thinking, my head will explode.”

And with that in mind, he goes to the front of house again. “Himuro is nowhere to find…” muttered him, thinking whether he wants to go back to his room, or just maybe… wait for Himuro?

“Pardon the intrusion…?” he said slowly while he opened the door. They keep it really traditional here, everything is made of wood and stone. “It might be rude if I wait for him in his own room… or is it already rude that I came in without him here?”

Who cares.

~~~

And…. that’s what he thought. But now, it is almost sunrise! Himuro does not come home at all? What is the point of him waiting like an idiot here?!

He does not know whether he wanted to be angry or worry now. Does Himuro has another house? Does he actually safe? He is not into trouble, right? But that’s Himuro… Though the demon looks fragile and weak, because of his feminine, but Murasakibara knows he is strong. At least strong enough to protect himself if anything happens…

But, Murasakibara cannot fool himself. He is worried plus angry. “Well, I guess… I should head to my room… Masa-chin will get angry at me…” Just when he stands up, the door opens by itself. No, someone from outside opened it.

“At… Atsushi?!”

Murasakibara’s face changes to glitters. “Muro-chin! Oh, I am sorry that I came in like-”

“What are you doing here?!”

“Eh?” Okay, that’s not a lie. He is surprised. Why Himuro is angry?

“Did you come from last night?! Your hand…!” the angry demon took his hands, which are cold as ice, and immediately, rage fills Himuro’s beautiful eyes. And again, Murasakibara cannot help but feels in danger. It’s natural instinct.

“That’s it. Don’t come here whenever you want anymore,” the tone had change again. Himuro looks really troubled by the fact that he came here and saw Murasakibara waits for him. While Murasakibara, he is still not recovered by the shock he received one after another.

“Eh- but why, I just wanted to see you-”

“Think about it, Atsushi. What would you do if I didn’t come back? What should I do if anything happened to you because you were foolishly waiting for me?!”

“But I am a Devil, Muro-chin! More importantly, where did you go? I am more worried that you are away all night!”

"What do you mean more importantly?! I don't want that attitude!"

"Ha?! I asked you first, Muro-chin!"

Both of them stare at each other. Murasakibara cannot stand the puzzled look in Himuro’s eyes, he averts his eyes. Well... that was a bad move.

“Enough.”

“Eh?” Murasakibara turned to him again. “Mu- Muro-chin…”

“Leave, Atsushi.”

And Himuro’s face cuts his tongue. He don’t have any words now. And Himuro really wants him to leave. He is not welcomed here anymore.

~~~

Kise looks nervously at the girl besides him. The female Devil too, seems unsure about this. But they can’t leave things as they are. There are things that they do not understand, and they need to find the truth. They can’t just turn a blind eye after what has just happened.

It’s not enough that Alex actually know all of them. She said that Akashi knows about this too. So what’s the point of telling them to investigate the Beast? This is ridiculous.

“Ki-chan… Are you okay?” asked Momoi when he didn’t say a word. Yesterday was a rough day for both of them. At least Momoi thought it was rough. Kise had another thing in his room though.

Kise nods slowly. “I am okay. There are too much news that I need to swallow, that’s all.” It’s true. For 1700 years they live, this is the first time they know that they have Beasts in this dimension. And they are connected with those Beast.

And he met Yukicchi as Beast too. And he pushed him away. It was tough for him to go back to his room after that. He couldn’t look at Yukicchi’s eyes at all. And Kise knew that the lost soul is worried about him. That… makes him feel even more bad.

“Here, come on Ki-chan. Akashi called us,” said Momoi while she offered him hands. Kise takes the hands and stands up. It’s confession time for Akashi.

“I guess you both are troubled by it more than I thought you would,” the red Devil chuckled as he looked at the Yellow’s and Pink’s face.

“Akashi-kun is terrible! You should tell us that we are friends with the Beast!” pouted the girl. Akashi smiles at her.

“I wouldn’t call that friends. We can turn to enemy if anything happen, so I guess I call them ‘companion’. Did you meet with Alex-san?”

“We met her. And she sent her regards to you, Akashicchi. Tell us what happened actually. My mind is about to explode with questions!” whined Kise, feeling tired with all of these quizzes. Akashi smiles again.

“For starters, at first, only I know about this. I asked Nijimura-san, and he told me about the Pledge. Not long after that, Shintarou read something about the Pledge and asked me about it. Kiyoshi already knows this directly from Nijimura-san by the way. Well, I am not surprised if he actually remembered a bit about it.”

“So it leaves me, Murasakibaracchi and Momoicchi… and Aominecchi.”

“Oh, no. I don’t know when, but Daiki knew about the Pledge by himself. I guess he dug information from Imayoshi, who read all of our history.”

“Eh?! This is unfair, you guys should tell this to everyone! That makes us look like idiot!” said Momoi, feeling left out from the important matters. “No wonder Dai-chan seems so bored with previous meeting!

“I am more surprised that Satsuki does not know about this though,” commented Akashi, looking straight at her.

“Well, I do read about our history and they never mention about the Pledge! Ugh, I should have sneak inside Nijimura-san’s room!”

“While I do appreciate the enthusiasm, please don’t do so. He will accused me to trespassing…”

He takes a break by drinking a sip of his tea. He continues, “As for how the Pledge happened, when Nijimura-san is the Ruler of this dimension, he met with Alex-san. Both of them are quite hot-blooded, and in fact, Nijimura-san does not even likes Alex-san.”

“What a Tsundere… He completely likes her,” commented Momoi. Akashi only smiles at the matter.

“They formed a contract to remain the peace, and as a result, we Devils and demons will not pry on them, as much as they won’t bothered with us. We cannot touch their territory, but we can visit them. It’s the same for them. Though we actually never cross path after that. So it’s more like…”

“Mind one own business?”

Akashi laughs. “Yes, indeed.”

“Woah… this is all hard to take!” sighed Kise. “Akashicchi, I really think you should tell everyone about this earlier. The Pledge was almost broke when Murasakibaracchi send a team before! It’s a good thing that Alex-san wanted to hear about it, or else we will really spit war on each other!”

Akashi chuckles. “I wonder about that.”

“Akashi-kun, there’s another thing that’s bothering me,” said Momoi, gaining others attention. “We met Alex-san before, when we were kids… is it true?”

Akashi nods slightly. “The Pledge has only one thing that is obliged to do. It’s a must. Both parties need to come together and redo the oath when either party change their Leader. Which means, 1500 years ago, when we were about to be chosen as the Lords, Nijimura-san had brought us to Alex-san and did the Pledge.”

“It’s only natural that we forgot about it entirely… But I was shocked that Alex-san remembered each of us.”

“That woman is one scary Beast… I can sense it from her. How scary…” commented Momoi.

“But Satsuki, you are scary to be the Wrath Lord too.”

“Eh?! Akashi-kun, you thought I was scary?”

“Err, guys. Can I take my leave now? I should head back to my work…”

“Of course, Ryouta. Satsuki, you should go too, didn’t you said you need to take reports from Daiki?”

“Ah, yes! Thank you, Akashi-kun! See you later!”

~~~

“And although I said that, I actually cannot go back to my mansion!!”

Kuroko and Takao blink for several times. They look at each other, actually does not know what really happened. The Lust actually came when they were having their breakfast, and after he explained briefly what happened to the lost soul, he said that he can’t go back to his home?

“Um, so Kise-kun, I still don’t understand. Why can’t you just go to your mansion?”

“I can’t look at Yukicchi straight to the eyes! I will fall in love!”

“Pfftt… hahahahaha,” of course, what else can he expect other than Takao laughing at him? “Wait, I can’t hold on my laughter.. I am sorry but- hahahaha Wait, Hahaha”

“Takaocchi!! Don’t be mean!” cried Kise. “He is in great danger if I fall in love with him, you know?! I am the Lust, and love influences greatly in Lust!”

“Well, I don’t see any problem if you love him, you see,” said Kuroko, sipping his drinks again.

“Actually, there are big problems here,” whined Kise again. “I met Yukicchi in Beast form yesterday. But he actually pushed me away, like I was a bother for him… I don’t know. I don’t know why did I feel like this in the first place…”

“Wait. You guys talk about this like it is not a big matter that I almost forgot about it.”

“What is it, Takao-kun?”

“That lost soul, he is a guy, isn’t it? In my world, even if there are BL everywhere, guys cannot give birth, you know?”

“About that…”

“Genders don’t have anything to do with us, Devils. We can just change our spouse’s body to be able to give birth, of course there are some things that need to do first, but there are spells that let us do that,” explained Kise.

“Yes, so even if you are a guy, you can give your lover children too and you will have the perfect family just fine,” continued Kuroko.

“But the actual problem is… we need to be careful in choosing our spouse.”

‘Eh? Why is that? If you love them, then that’s it, right?” asked Takao.

“Takao-kun, let me give you a simple example for explanation. If, both of us, you and me, are going to be lovers here, that means in your world too, I will be your lover. And that will happen at any other dimension.”

“Eh?! Your choice of spouse will affect the other dimensions?!”

“Yes. And while there are people who does not care about that, there are people that cares. Like this Yellow in front of us.”

“Kurokocchi, don’t be mean! I am worried here!” cried Kise again. “That will affects every dimension, unless there are some exception. While I know that in your world, Takaocchi, BL is extraordinary, I don’t want to ruin his other lives!”

“Hmm…” Takao hummed a little, like he is in deep thought. “Kisecchi, although Bl is not normal in my world, but it isn’t really that abnormal, you know? As for me, if it’s true that I will be with a guy in the future, I will not care, you know?”

“Eh?! Why- Takaocchi, you will want to have children, you-”

“We can just adopt one. That’s just one bad thing that we can’t change, isn’t it? I will be more hurt if my lover does not love me anymore. As long as both of us love each other tender, every hardships, every misfortune can be seen as lucky, don’t you think so?”

Kuroko and Kise both are awestruck… they look at Takao in amazed, while the said human is getting embarrassed by his own words.

“Come on guys, I just said some cheesy words, don’t leave me hanging!” he covered his face, but both Kuroko and Kise can see his ears are bit red.

“Kurokocchi, don’t you think that Takao in this world is an Angel?”

“What-”

“No, Kise-kun. I think a Goddess will suits him even better,” answered Kuroko.

“Guys! Stop it!” Takao grabbed a cup of tea in front of him and drink it. Kise sees that, and immediately he shouts in danger. “Takaocchi! Don’t! Spit it! That’s my cup! I drank it already!”

Well, of course. It’s too late. Takao, shocked by Kise’s sudden reaction, hurriedly gulped it all. “Don’t surprise me like that! I almost died!”

“Takao-kun, you should ask first… this is bad,” said Kuroko, shaking his head. Takao looks at him in puzzled. “What? I just drank his tea-”

“That tea has my saliva in it! In you now, have a little of Lust’s power, you know? It’s not a good thing for a mere human to do that!”

“Eh? But Aomine gave me a little of his power before?”

“Eh?!”

“Erm… well, yes it’s true. So I guess it’s okay, Kise-kun. But you should be more cautious for this thing.”

“So what, now it’s my fault? Haaa….” sighed Kise. “You guys drive me crazy, you know…”

Takao and Kuroko laugh at him, both enjoy when Kise looks like he will faint anytime now. “Hey Kurokocchi, Takaocchi…” called Kise, making the Goddess and the human to pay attention at him. “If one day… my heart is broken, can you guys please console me?”

Well, yes. Takao laughs while Kuroko just smiles at him. “Of course,” they said.

“What- What are you doing here, Kise?!” a familiar voice rose, and startled Takao. He looks around, but he can’t find the owner of the voice at all. Kise and Kuroko seems unfazed, so he thought maybe he was hearing things, but…

“It’s okay, Takaocchi. That was Aomine. You will get used to this later,” said Kise as he calmly poured another cup of tea. Takao didn’t understand it at first, but when a black smoke appear suddenly behind Kise’s back, Takao immediately know what was going on.

“Geez, you break the fun, Kise! I was about to surprise him too,” whined the dark blue Devil. He scratches his hair, while sits besides Kise. Takao chuckles at him. “Well, I am surprised though…”

“Yes, we have quite a group of visitor today, Takao-kun,” smiled Kuroko.

“I only came because I wanted to check you both -nanodayo,” said the Green. “Aomine said he has some business with Takao, too.”

“Eh? Really?” Takao asked Aomine, looking at him straight in the eyes. Aomine flinches a little, feeling something is off.

“Well, yeah… I need to take my remaining power inside of you, it might be dangerous,” then he drinks his tea. “Come closer, I need to look into your eyes.” Takao nods, before changing his seat near Aomine.

“Midorima-kun, please have a seat too. You can sit beside me,” offered Kuroko. Their table’s shape is rectangle, and while Kise is sitting beside Aomine, Takao is at another corner, and Midorima and Kuroko is exactly the opposite of Takao’s side.

“You sure are short, aren’t you? Head up,” said Aomine while holding Takao’s chin and brushes the human’s hair to the back of his ear.

“Well I am in the middle of my growth! If anything, you are too tall!” sulked Takao, feeling like he is too short. Well, he is in the age of growing! He will become taller, you know?

“Aomine, hurry up -nanodayo. It’s painful to see him lift his head like that,” interrupted Midorima. He looks irritated, and Aomine only finds it amusing.

“That’s rude, you Devil…” sighed Takao, took a glance at the Pride. While the Greed didn’t say a word, he continues on searching for his remaining aura inside Takao. And what he finds there actually surprised him that he unintentionally lets go of Takao.

“Eh? What, you are done already? I don’t feel any different though?” asked the human.

“Ah… yeah. I’m done. Thanks,” responded him, still shocked actually. Of course, the others realize that, and Kuroko asks Takao to help him make another jug of fruit drinks. Definitely, Takao agrees without any hesitation.

So now, while the human is away with their Goddess, Kise immediately asks Aomine what happened.

“Ah… well, I didn’t take it.”

“Why -nanodayo, isn’t it dangerous for a human to hold our energy for too long?” asked Midorima, actually worried about Takao.

“Well, I found Kise’s and Kuroko’s too inside of him.”

“What?”

“Ah… eh?! Why- How- Mine is because he drank a little of my cup earlier... But Kuroko?”

“Kise, you idiot! Why did you let him do that -nanodayo?!”

“I am surprised too! He just grabbed it and in a blink- he drank it already!”

“Calm down, you too… Seriously? The Pride and the Lust are fighting again? We don’t have Akashi to stop you guys this time…”

“Like you are one to talk -nanodayo! You fight more than me!” snarled Midorima.

“Anyway, why did you look so calm about this?! You know that if he blend into this world too much, he will-”

“I said to calm down, Kise,” Aomine shot a look at him, which makes him shut his mouth for a while. “Well, to be honest, the fact that he has you and Kuroko inside him too is not much of a surprise to me.”

“What do you mean -nanodayo?”

Aomine smiles awkwardly. “The powers are blending in perfectly fine inside of him. In fact, I am afraid that if either one of us take it back, he will loses his balance.”

“Eh- that is…” the ever talking Kise actually couldn’t find the right word to say, while Midorima is speechless.

“Abnormal, if you ask me,” continued Aomine, taking another sip of his drink.

“Guys, were you talking about something serious? Your face are scary…” Takao’s voice from the front door makes them turn in sync. And that amuses Takao too. “Hahaha so you were talking about something like war then.”

“Takaocchi, what’s with the basket?” asked Kise, staring straight at the basket in his hand. It looks heavy too. Immediately, Kise wanted to help carry it, but Midorima had stand up first and went to the human. “Give me that. Just what did you put in it -nanodayo?” he said while grabbing the basket.

Just then, Kuroko walk to the outside too. “I am sorry we took so long. Kise-kun, Midorima-kun, Aomine-kun, do you want to go the waterfall?”

“Oh, that’s tempting! Let’s go, let’s go!” was Kise’s reaction.

“Eh… so you guys went there already. So what, are you bringing food in there?” asked Aomine.

“Yes!” Takao nods his head in excitement. “Believe it or not, I am a good cooker, you see. You guys should have fun once in a while. I will cook with Kuroko.”

The Devil look at each other for a while, then they all come to hug Takao and Kuroko both.

“Wait wait wait what is this hahahahaha,” laughed Takao while he is crushed by the Devils. He takes a glance at Kuroko’s face and laughs again. Kuroko looks so surprised, but of course, the Goddess is happy.

“Well, yeah… It feels like there are two Goddess here, we just…”

It's been a while since someone told them to relax and have fun, instead of become a proper Lord. Well, they do things their own way, and even if they did slack off from time to time, they still need to maintain their status. It's dead tiring. So when one day, a mere human said they can just have fun once in a while... that really strike their heart.

“I am not as kind as Kuroko you know~”

“Takao-kun is an Angel then.”


	9. Some fun in a while~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there~ Well, a lot of AllTakao and MidoTaka ngehehehe
> 
> Enjoy, my audience~

Dark blue smoke fills the place. There, at the secret waterfall, near the riverside, Kuroko, Aomine, Kise and Midorima stand in circle and focus on the dark smoke. All four of them do not budge at all and only stare at it. After a few seconds, the smoke starts to disappear, and let them look at the actual object easier.

His ears change its’ shape, they are now a lot sharper than before. He has fangs and grew orange horns and tail too. His nails turn to black and he has some kind of green marks at his cheeks all the way to the neck and his torso. Not to mention, his eyes turn devilish and his big wings are dark orange too.

“Wow.”

“That is… too much- Aomine, why did you imagine a true Lord? He even has that marks -nanodayo.”

Kise laughs. “Hahaha yeah Aominecchi! This is funny, it’s been a while since we all met a true Lord too! Takaocchi, can I touch you?” Kise’s voice rose in excitement. Takao, the main object they all have been staring at from the start, just nods while grinning happily.

“You guys… I agreed when Aomine said he wanted to see me in Devil appearance. But is this okay actually?” he asked while his face is being played by Kise. Even Kuroko is silently but excitedly touching Takao all over.

Midorima nods for an answer. “He just used the illusion magic, so he didn’t change your body at all. This is all some sort of hypnosis effect,” he turned to Aomine, who is grinning proudly.

“Is that so?” Takao looked at his arms and nails. He can even control his tails. This feels weird.

“Though Midorima-kun, I don’t understand the marks. You guys do not have it at all?” asked Kuroko, hands are still on Takao. He keeps playing at the now non-human’s wings.

Midorima adjusts his spectacles, actually is troubled when Kuroko asked the exact question he is asking in his mind right now. “Well, the marks actually is an important symbol for us Devils. It is with us, but it will not appear itself unless we have our spouse.”

“Which means, we only have those marks after we make love, Kurokocchi,” Kise interrupted.

“Yeah, and the marks colour actually resembles our spouse. And the more powerful your others are, the brighter the colour is.” The prideful smile still does not leaves Aomine’s face. “And the powerful one of the pair can control their marks anytime they want. Whether to show it… or hide it. Like this,” he continued and then immediately he has the black marks on his cheeks, all the way to his neck and his back.

“What?! When did you- with who, Aominecchi?!” asked Kise in surprise. He looks at Aomine with such an awe, his jaw even drop in amaze, yet his hands still did not leave Takao’s body alone. More precisely, Takao’s green mark.

“And they are a little different from Takao-kun’s. His mark covers his front, yet Aomine-kun’s after the neck, it curves to the back. Why is that?” asked Kuroko too, seems eager with the topic.

The Pride then takes off his clothes, he leaves it all to the ground and then turns around. “My marks show that I am the ‘husband’. Takao’s mark means he is the ‘wife’. He is the receiver.”

“Eh? Wait, so I am the 'wife', which means even in my world, I will be with a guy? Lolololol what is that hahahaha And mine is green…? Which means…”

“Eh~ Midorimacchi, seriously~??” Kise’s smirked at the green Devil, making Midorima a lot more uneasy than he already is.

“Don’t be absurd. There are many green demons other than me. And in fact, Aomine only used his illusion, it’s not even a real thing -nanodayo,” replied him hurriedly. Takao doesn’t say anything towards that, but he keeps staring at him, making Midorima feels stupidly embarrassed.

Can’t deal with it, he covers the “Devil’s” eyes. “Eh?! What, Shin-chan, my eyes- your hand-!” the human stuttered in surprise. Midorima does not even care, he still covers the gray eyes. He sighs, “I thought I told you already, I don’t like to be stared at -nanodayo. Stupid Aomine, why can’t you just make him into a normal Devil?”

Again, that smirk appears. “To tell you the truth, I only imagined him as the true Devil. I didn’t imagine the details -like the colour or the brightness… That appears by his own soul,” he whispered, letting only Midorima who heard it. And that… doesn’t change things to the better.

“Takao, I thought about this before. But you really are one carefree human, aren’t you?” asked Aomine to Takao when he realized Midorima has something else to say. Don’t bother me with your love life, he thought.

Takao stares at Aomine, thinking about his attitude. He himself does not realize this, but his tail is playfully swinging around, showing that he is kind of happy. “Eh… is that bad? I mean, this is some kind of fate, isn’t it? So no matter how bad I dislike it, it won’t change anything, right?”

“But one said you need to work hard for your dream future, Takao-kun.”

“Ah… well, that is a different matter when I already know what is going to happen, right? Well, if I don’t know that if I am gay or what, then maybe yeah I can change myself and work harder… but in this matter, I will be someone’s wife eventually. Nothing will change that.”

“There are something weird about the way you think, Takao. Where is your pride as a man -nanodayo?” the green sighed. Takao then looks at him with a face saying ‘Is that an insult?’

“Like I thought, you are one special human, Takao-kun.”

“Eh?! Why, I just stated what I think though?!”

Kise ruffles Takao’s hair, making the human looks at him. “Most human don’t accept that fact easily like you did. Ah… it must be good for your husband… I want to be that husband…” and he glanced at Midorima.

“You have something to say, nanodayo?” the irritated Devil asked. Kise laughs at him in return and shakes his head. "Nope! Nothing at all~"

“Hey, Takaocchi, I want to see you in Angel Form!” he turned to the human again. Kuroko nods in excitement, though his face remain unfazed. “Yes, Takao-kun. You will look really sweet. Can we change your appearance again?”

And Takao laughs. “I did say you should have fun once in a while. So, I am counting on you then!” he turned to Aomine, but the Devil strangely shakes his head.

“Ah... no. I don’t like the Angel so much, so I really don’t pay attention to their clothes or whatsoever. Kise, you do it.”

"Oh? I do not expect that from the greedy Greed."

"Looking for trouble, Midorima?"

“Oh stop fighting, you two... Yes~ I will do it. Takaocchi, look at me please!” and once again, the area filled with smoke, but this time it is as yellow as Kise. For a while, nobody says anything, and then the smoke starts to disappear again. And again, everyone are speechless.

“Takao-kun, you are so beautiful,” commented Kuroko. His face looks so satisfied, he even smiles widely, making the human embarrassed in silent.

Well, what he said is not a lie. Takao’s white fair skin looks so glossy, his gray eyes shine with the sun. Even his silk-enough hair, looks so black and elegant. His lips are beautifully pink, his nails which are already finely cut, looks like a baby’s, they feel so soft. Not to mention, there are like a crown of white feathers on top of him, amazingly blend in with the black hair. His wings too, have the orange colour lingering to it white, big, and strong wings. Around of his neck, there are green marks that look like a necklace from a distance. The marks actually looks the same as the Devil’s one.

"Eh... so even in Angel form, those green marks are still there. It looks like a necklace," commented Aomine, staring deeply at the neck.

"I doubt that Kise imagined an Angel. This beauty is a little much for them -nanodayo."

“You guys are exaggerating. Every angel will look beautiful,” said Takao after a long silent.

“That is defnitely wrong, Takaocchi!” Kise shouted in disagreement. His cheeks are puffed, he looks like a kid who doesn’t get his candies. “Maybe I imagined you as a Goddess instead of an Angel. Because not every angel will look this stunning, seriously! You and Kurokocchi really are a matching pair when you guys sit besides each other like this! Ahhh I can’t get enough-”

“Aomine, please do so.”

“I’m on it.”

And immediately, Aomine pushes Kise hard, tossing the yellow Devil on air before he finally falls into the waterfall. Takao, whose appearance now totally looks like any other normal human, guesses that push was really strong, Kise is now like half a mile from them. That is far.

That scene actually surprised Takao and Kuroko, they didn’t say anything at all. At last, Kise shows up and flies in rage. “What was that for, idiot Aominecchi?! And you asked him to do so, stupid Midorimacchi!”

“My condolences, Kise. But if we didn’t cool you down, Takao and Kuroko will be in danger -nanodayo.”

“Yeah, so sorry. I didn’t really push you that hard, did I? You are lucky, Kise, that there are no rocks at all when you fall.”

“You guys are not even sorry!! I hate you! Takaocchi, Kurokocchi, I don’t want to do anything at all, believe me! This is terrible!” said him before he gathers two balls of the water and hit it on Aomine and Midorima. Well, almost.

“Oh, you wanna fight like ol’ time, huh, Kise?!” Aomine shouted while making a shield using the water itself.

“This is stupid. We only help you to cool down -nanodayo,” Midorima said while standing behind Aomine’s shield.

“But there is no need for you to push me that hard, right?! You guys are meanie!”

“A meanie suits a Greed fair enough, idiot.”

“And all of this happened because you imagined him to be that beauty -nanodayo.”

“Eh, what- so Midorimacchi, you really fall for him, right?”

“Hn. Again with that nonsense.”

“Yeah right, ‘Shin-chan’.”

Takao and Kuroko stares at the Devils without a word. In the end, they laughs when all of the Devils actually really are having fun right now. It’s getting to the point where they are already soaked in the water, fighting using their magics and all. Well, Takao and Kuroko have not a single qualm then.

“Come on, Takao-kun. Let’s cook while they lose themselves,” said Kuroko while giving hands to Takao to help him stand up. The latter grins happily, and he accepts Kuroko’s hand. Though after that, he calls for Aomine, the one who is the nearest with them.

“Yeah?”

“Here, take care of Kuroko!” and Takao pushes Kuroko to the river, actually caught him off-guard and Aomine successfully grabs him before takes him to the other Devils.

Kuroko seems dissatisfied, but then Kise splashes water on him, making him more irritated but then that lights up his mood to play. And that sight is really precious to Takao.

The human, now all alone, gathers all the stuff to cook. It actually is a lot easier to do now because when they first arrived earlier, Midorima and him had already set up all the things. So for now, he only need to lit up a small fire and the cook job will start. While he looks around, trying to search for stones or something that will help him with the fire, he notices a Devil walking slowly behind him.

“Yeah, Shin-chan?” he asked, not turning around. He still needs to find the stone.

“Look at the people you are talking to, Takao. Why didn’t you lit up the fire already -nanodayo?”

“Geez, I am trying to find a small stone for that, Shin-chan. I can’t use magic and BAM, there’s a fir-”

The moment he said that, a small fire was lit at the tip on Midorima’s point finger, and the Devil shove it to the stove they made with nature.

And Takao does not know what to say for that. He looks at Midorima, who is staring at him like he didn’t do anything special or anything just now. After a while, the boy smiles like usual, but the Devil knows that smile hides something. “Eh… what is that, Shin-chan, did you actually came here just to lit a fire? Can’t you at least ask and help me properly? You tsundere Devil.”

“What- Who are you calling tsundere?! I only looked at you for a second and you had already wander around -nanodayo!”

Takao sighs a little bit, but that was not a deep sigh like a trouble though. “Really, you? Hahaha but thank you. It might takes me longer to actually lit a fire. You saved me there!” and there it is, the usual happy grin. Looking at it, Midorima cannot help but fluttered too.

“But Shin-chan, don’t you want to play around anymore? They are still at it, look.”

And yes, at the centre of the waterfall, there are Aomine and Kise fighting over whose water ball are bigger. And Kuroko takes the chance to splash water on both’s face. Immediately, the water balls explodes lightly and leaves Kuroko smiling as the winner.

And again, Takao laughs at that. “What was that, haha he sure is a sneaky one.”

Midorima turns his look at Takao, who is now picking meats to be grilled. Slowly, the Devil mumbled, “You are one to talk…”

“Huh? What is it, Shin-chan?” the human turned to him, surprised the Devil even more.

“Nothing. Either way, I don’t like to use my powers to play around like that -nanodayo. There will come times when I really need it, so I’d better not waste it.”

“Eh~ as expected of Shin-chan, so matured and adult-like…”

“For a matter of fact, I am an adult now. You are just a 15 years-old human.”

“Yeah yeah~ I am sorry, my Lord.”

“Humph,” he stares at the human, who has started grilling for a while now. He and Kuroko prepped those before, while they were talking about the human himself. Midorima then glances at their surrounding, which is protected from the sun by the tall trees. Of course Midorima picked this place long time ago because of that. He didn’t really think that it will become useful as they are Devils and Goddess, but who knows that one day a mere human will join them?

“Shin-chan, can you pass me that wide leaves? No, place them on the table. Thank you~” he said that, while his hands keep moving the meats, making sure they are not overcooked. Midorima does as he is told, and stares at the others before he looks at Takao again.

“You guys sure have all the needed ‘furniture’ here. There is actually table made of stone… and this side really is made to picnic and barbecue!” commented the human, still eyes are not on him.

“When we were children, we often came here to play around like you just witnessed.”

“What, so you guys really fight with your powers? Wow I can imagine it lololol, so cute~”

Midorima smirks a little. “They were a lot more aggressive than this. If you ask me, this is child play -nanodayo. Anyway, at the end of the day, Murasakibara would always whined about how he was so hungry, he could die.”

“Pfft… yeah, that actually happened before my eyes.”

“And one day when Kuroko learned about cooking, he asked Akashi to use a spot to cook whenever they came here… So I picked this place, Aomine and Kise build the table, and Akashi altered his magic. Murasakibara, being the hungry one, would find the food himself.”

A second passed, and Midorima still does not hear any comment from Takao -which is weird. He turns his face to the boy, and immediately, he looks upfront again. Takao was smiling so happily, he felt like he was talking about something embarrassing. Like he is treated as a child.

“What… What are you smiling for, nanodayo? You should blabbered your mouth like usual…”

“Eh… isn’t it fine? I mean, when I tried to imagine it, I feel delighted, like you guys were really having fun for real. Though, trying to survive in the jungle all by yourselves are… pfft, brave? Well, you guys are the Lord after all.”

The human moves to the table, placing all the meats that has nicely cooked. “Hey, you mind if I hum a song? I don’t like to do something silently, you see…”

‘I thought so. You were so quiet, I was actually worried-nanodayo,’ is what Midorima intended to reply, but then all that comes out of his mouth is, “...Do as you please.”

So, happily, Takao hums a song that Midorima has never heard of -must be from his own world. Blankly, Midorima stares at all of the movement the human makes. He hums slowly, and the song somehow relaxes Midorima himself, even though he never heard it before. His hands too, move smoothly as he cooks. His hair will sometimes covers his hair, and the sweat are dripping from his neck and chin. But Takao will carefully not let them drops on the food.

It’s true. As a human, he is beautiful.

His voice echoes a happy rhythm, leaving the people hearing it feels a tinge of happiness too. His lips are almost as pink as the rose. His cheeks too, are burning up, maybe because of the heat… and the sweat does not affects him at all. His front hair, which follows his face, adorably covers his eyes sometimes. Takao needs to stop doing whatever he is doing and tugs his hair to the back of his ears.

“Ano… Shin-chan. Can you please stop staring at me like that?” asked Takao while he curves an awkward smile. “Do you have anything to say? I can’t even watch the meat when I am the one who is being watched.”

“Nothing. I just thought you really know how to cook -nanodayo.”

“What, you didn’t believe me yet?! Geez, I am shocked, Shin-chan! Seriously,” and there he goes, laughing again.

Even his laugh resonance an honest and happy sound.

“Hey Takao, are you really okay with that fate of yours?” asked Midorima suddenly, making the human flinches a little. “It’s called homosexual in your world, that type of relationship. People tend to belittle those.”

“Wow, Shin-chan you know so much about our world, huh…” commented Takao. He thinks for a second before he continues cooking. The calm smile is still there. “Shin-chan, do Devil knows their future?”

Midorima, who is feeling weird with the sudden question shakes his head. “No. We do not bother the time. Just like you, we only know the past, and the current present. The future is not something we can meddle with.”

The smile widen. “Yes. And just thinking about what will happen in the future sometimes give me goosebumps, you know? Haha lol, because we do not know anything at all, so anything can happen. The bad, the good, anything. And to think here I found out I will someone’s wife even if I am a guy lololol.”

His empty laughs continues on, and Midorima waits for him to start talking again. The little human are really mysterious, and secretive too. Midorima wonders if he actually had talk seriously for a while now.

Then, without words, the human brings the food to the table and sits beside the Devil. He leaves the fire alone, doesn’t bother to put it off. There is a long pause, he does not even look at Midorima in that while. Then, suddenly again, Takao stretches his body, making the satisfied sighs.

“Things won’t be easy on us. We might even run away or something if anything goes wrong.”

“Eh? Takao, you-”

“But what I am scared of the most is… if that lover of mine will give up on me, you know?”

And there he goes. Midorima cannot even blink when he sees that painful smile. The boy continues, “I will be really, really broken heart if that happens.” And Midorima cannot stand this anymore.

“Takao,” he called, and pulled Takao’s shoulder to the point he is mostly, forcibly, turn to him. The man is shocked, he can’t even put up a smile like he does usually. “That marks that appeared before, when you are a true Devil, it was true to your deepest souls.”

“Eh?”

“Regardless of what I said back then, which there are many Green demon here, but there is none that as bright as mine. So most likely, that guy you will fall in love with in the future, is the human me.”

“Eh- wait, hold on-”

“And that concern of yours, whether he will give up on you, that is ridiculous. I will not let go of my lover, given all the circumstances. My pride won’t let me do that, as much as I swallow the exact pride when I admit I love you.”

“Wait-wait, wait a damn second, Shin-chan!” scream. That was a scream. Fortunately, the others are so fascinated by their game and surrounding, they didn’t hear it. Midorima, who was so into it, actually surprised himself when he sees Takao’s face properly.

His cheeks are burning. Takao is definitely blushing.

“You said that was just an illusion! So, there are nothing true about it-”

“I did say ‘regardless of what I said back then’, didn’t I? After that, Aomine said to me that he just imagined you as the True Lord, he didn’t think about the details at all. So all of that marking, wings, colors… those came from your deepest soul.”

“So… wait that means, I will be your partner in this dimension too! Do you know the me from here?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t yet. But please rest assure, I will find you.”

One second.

Two.

Three.

And there he goes. The laugh. This time, the happy and whole-heart laugh. It is sincere from his heart.

“You- Where did you get all of those confidence?? What, so you really love me? And the human you will too? Hahhahaha I find this really funny, you cannot joke about this kind of thing, Shin-chan~”

“I didn’t. I told you, that exact pride I swallow, when I admit my love to you.”

“Pfft… stop, Shin-chan, I can’t hahahaha!”

“Stop laughing, Bakao! I said I am not jo-!” again, he is surprised, he didn’t even finish the word. This time, his heart literally skips a beat.

The ever-laughing human is totally as red as the tomatoes.

“Hey, hey~ Takaocchi, Midorimacchi~ are you done with the cooking? Do you need me to help?” Kise’s shout distracted them a second later. Takao nervously stands up, he recovers his smile when he replies to Kise, “No, we are done! You guys tired of playing already? We can eat now!”

“Uwoah! What a feast! You really are a great human, Takao!” fluttered Aomine while he runs to the food. Kuroko slowly joins after him, but the Goddess gives quite a stare at the Hawk Eye.

“Hey, Takaocchi? Are the heat got into you? Your face are really red…” asked Kise while he walks to them. Midorima takes a glance at them, not knowing that Kuroko is staring at him the whole time. Aomine? Nevermind him. The blue Lord has already fill his stomach.

“Nah… I am okay. I will drink some water, after this maybe I will play at the riverside too,” shook the human’s head. His face is red, he sweat a lot too, but he is fine. If anything, his heart isn’t.

“Takao-kun,” called Kuroko, taking Takao to the riverside in that instant. Kise, worrying over their new friend, wanted to follow after them, but was called by Aomine to leave them alone. Sighing, he goes to the other Lords. "I am worry, he didn't say anything to us if he is sick or something..."

"Nah... just leave him with Tetsu. You wouldn't know what to say after all."

"I agree. You can be annoying at times, Kise."

"Hey?! Why are you guys picking on me?!" sighed Kise. "And Aominecchi, you haven't answer my question yet."

"Eh... did you ask any question though?"

"I did! Geez, the black marks! Whose was it? You didn't tell us anything at all!"

"I think it is obvious -nanodayo. Those are definitely Imayoshi's."

"Ah... yeah, just like he said. It was his."

"...What?!"

Meanwhile at the river, Kuroko is splashing water on Takao to calm him down, who is sitting on a rock. “What were you doing, I told you you need to take those pills right in time,” said Kuroko while taking waters in his palm and pour them on Takao’s back. “You promised me, didn’t you?”

“Well, yes, I promised you… But these days it was easier to breathe even if I took those pills a bit late than I am supposed to. So… yesterday I didn’t take any pills at all…”

“Takao-kun, that is dangerous! You shall not merge in our world than you already are. Those pills are not made to let you breathe properly only, they are like a vessel to not let you be a part of this world.”

Takao looks at the ground. He can see the little fish swimming near his foot, not scared at all that they might get eaten. What Kuroko said makes him feel guilty… he can’t even look at the Goddess in the eye. “I am sorry, Kuroko… I will take it properly from now on.”

Kuroko lets out a small sigh, for a moment he didn’t reply anything and then he pours the cold water around Takao’s shoulder again. The human shudders a little, surprised when Kuroko suddenly did that. Then again, without a warning, the non-human splash water at his head, making Takao speechless.

“Ku- Kuroko, it’s cold! What are you doing?” Takao turned to Kuroko, only to find him smiling at him.

“At least now you want to look at me, Takao-kun.”

Again, that guilty face appears, but then is replaced by an awkward smile. “I am sorry, ne? Come on, let’s eat.”

And in that moment, the familiar purple smoke surrounds him and Kuroko, startling them and the Lords too.

“What- Kuroko!” the Lords can’t see anything, they only heard Takao’s panicked shout, followed by Kuroko’s quick ‘yes’ reply.

“Kurokocchi! Takaocchi!!” shouted Kise in worry.

“Wait, isn’t that Murasakibara’s?” even so, Aomine stood up, getting ready if what he thought is wrong.

“There are no other demon that have the same purple colour as him. It should be him -nanodayo,” Midorima too, he stood up and was about to unleash his aura to protect the two who is trapped inside of the smoke.

“Takaochin, you liar!!” and they heard that cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am sorry if I didn't explain anything enough... And I am not the right person to make some angst etc cause I am very, very, very into fluff and sweet and lil' smut only... If you want some, then please comment on how you want them~


	10. Some Fun before Disaster

The purple smoke still does not leave the place entirely, most of them are around Takao and Kuroko. But now they know that is Murasakibara’s, the Lords actually felt a bit of relief before Kise and Aomine drop their guard. Midorima still does not though. He carefully watches any movement that happens in the purple circle.

“Takao-chin, he… he is…! I am-” the voice cracked a little, everyone can notice that. And that leaves the others confused. Is that really Murasakibara, the Gluttony?

“Mu… Murasakibara?” Takao’s voice rose in panic. They can hear some rustling sounds but nothing more than that.

“Murasakibara-kun, please calm down… These auras, they are everywhere,” and that was Kuroko’s usual calm voice. Which means it is Murasakibara… but what happened?

“But, then they… He…”

“Argh… Mou, I don’t understand it if you don’t calm down first! Talk to me!”

“Is that an angry Takaocchi? Is he angry?!” Kise asked Aomine, who is stunned too. Midorima on the other hand, feels more curious and angry at the same time. Well, he asks himself a big ‘why’ of course, but there is no absolute answer.

“Murasakibara!” called Takao again, and immediately the smoke vanishes from the air, leaving a clear view of Takao getting pinned down by the big Murasakibara. Kuroko by his side, trying his hardest to ‘awake’ the Devil, shaking his shoulder and hand, anything he can.

Surprised by that, Midorima immediately unleashes his aura to pull Murasakibara away from the weak human and Goddess. Alarmed by that, Kise pulls Takao while Aomine gets Kuroko in his arms. For a moment, everyone is speechless, their attention is either at Murasakibara, or Takao. And both of them seems shocked.

“No… no no no, Kise, let me go, please!” whispered Takao, getting all panicked and hurriedly comes to Murasakibara, who is being hold by Midorima’s power. The big guy seems ridiculous. He came here with only his trousers and a shirt. Not all blazer like usual… there is definitely something going on.

“Shin-chan, put him down! How can you even lift this guy, his feet aren’t touching the ground at all!”

“Are you out of your mind -nanodayo! He lost his control earlier, how can I-!”

“Shin-chan, trust me.”

And Midorima can’t argue with that any further. Anyone can see that he protests this, but he slowly puts the Gluttony to the ground. Without wasting any time then, Takao slaps Murasakibara’s face lightly with both his hands.

“Ow!” said Kise, cannot bring himself to ignore the pain. For a result, Aomine punches him at the stomach. “Ow!”

“Murasakibara, what happened…?” asked Takao, staring straight into the purple eyes. Not long after he asked that, Murasakibara looks at the ground. Takao realizes he is holding his emotions -which is a big thing to happen. Immediately, he pulls the giant to the riverside again. Oh well, this time, no one will leave those two alone, so they watch over them silently.

“Here, come on, you can tell me anything. I will listen to every single word that comes from your mouth,” said Takao while he did the same thing as Kuroko did to him several minutes earlier- splashing water at the head and the back.

“Nnh… stop with the water. It’s cold, Takao-chin…” Murasakibara grabbed the human’s hand and immediately stood up. He shakes his head a little and pulls his front hair to the back. No one can object this, he looks a lot calmer than usual.

“Ah… Why did I came here in the first place…”

And everyone can’t help but sigh at that.

“Seriously, Murasakibaracchi? Don’t throw ruckus at us if you won’t remember about it…”

“Yeah, we are about to have our lunch too! Geez…”

“Is food the only thing in your mind now, Aomine?”

“Come now, Takao-kun. You need to eat. You too, Murasakibara-kun, join us while you cool your head,” said Kuroko while he pulls the hands of both of them. They didn’t say anything, but they follow the Goddess to the table.

“Woah…! This is…! Heaven, who cook these?!” said the Gluttony while he wipes his saliva away. He didn’t waste any second, he just sits and starts digging in. Aomine, feeling that his food is in danger, quickly joins him. Kise on the other hand, is still calling for the others to come too.

“Watch your manners, you two… Takao cooked enough for everyone, includes Murasakibara -nanodayo.”

“Eh~ Takao-chin cooked this? Thank you… it’s delicious...” said the new Devil, which surprises the others greatly.

“Wait, Murasakibaracchi, you said-!!” Kise’s mouth then was shut off by Kuroko, who sneakingly came from his back. Slowly, Kuroko whispers to Kise’s ear. “Kise-kun, do you mind if you shut up for a moment?” Well, Kise has no other choice than to do as the Goddess wants of course.

“Wow, you really thanks people now, Murasakibara? Good Devil!” complimented Takao, getting excited by the news. “So you came here to say that?” he asked after he drinks a little. All of the things that happened… makes him exhausted. Come to think of it… after he got ‘confessed’, everything didn’t turn out right at all. Is he cursed?

“Ah, no… about that…” the Gluttony stopped eating for a second, before continues stuffing foods in his mouth. What should I tell him… I can’t probably say that I want to meet Himuro right from the start, can I? Oh, but… why not?

So, Murasakibara then briefly tell them what happened from the last time he met with Takao and Kuroko. Of course, only about he and Himuro. The meeting, the Beast, he didn’t say a word about it.

“...And so, I don’t know why but I want to see him… But after I saw him, I can’t stop thinking how I want to crush his smile… or something. Do you get it?” asked Murasakibara, looking at Takao after he only stares at the food. Come to his surprise, the human does not react much to his story.

Kise is trying his hardest to not speak a word, even if everyone knows he has a ton to say. Midorima is focused on eating, he didn’t look at the purple at all. Aomine, well, the same as Midorima, eating and eating. Only Kuroko and Takao who look at him from the moment he talked.

“Wh… what,” stuttered him, getting uneasy with the ‘two’ Kuroko now. For a reply, the Goddess and the human look at each other before nodding silently.

“Well, Murasakibara-kun… It’s not that we don’t understand the whole story, but…” said Kuroko, changing his glance at him again.

Takao nods. “Yeah… You said he scolded you the last time you tried to meet him, right?” The Devil nods. Takao continues, “Well, isn’t that because he is worried?”

“Takao-chin, you said the same thing as him… What’s there to be worried about, I don’t understand. I am a Devil, after all…”

Takao laughs. “It doesn’t matter if you are a Devil or a mere human. When someone cares for you, they can’t help but worried.”

“...Mou! I can’t anymore! Let me speak!” suddenly, Kise shouted, feeling unsatisfied.

“Wow, new record, Kise,” whistled Aomine, grinning mockingly at the yellow.

“Yes, that’s the longest this time. You managed to stay quiet, I am amazed -nanodayo,” added Midorima.

“Wow, you guys can be pretty hard on each other…” commented Takao, actually tickled by the small fight again.

“Ughh… forget about that. Murasakibaracchi, what Takao said was true. Those complex feelings can lead to misunderstand, arguments and fights. If you guys don’t solve it peacefully, it will be bad.”

“Wow, for a while, you said something that does makes you as the Lust Lord.”

“Aominecchi! Why are you in a bad mood?!”

“Aomine-kun, please restrain yourself. But, Kise-kun, I am actually amazed too.”

“Even you, Kurokocchi?!”

“Ma.. ma, hahaha that aside, actually… that Himuro, he really cares for you, right? Shouldn’t you feel happy about it?” said Takao, taking another meat to the Gluttony’s plate. Well, leaf plate.

Everyone turns to him, and then to Takao. For some reason, the mood here seems to lighten up, and that’s because of a single human. Makes them wonder if the human is really an extraordinary human actually.

“Hnn. Yeah.. I am happy,” smiled him at last. Looking at the smile, again, everyone is shocked, everyone except Takao of course. “Now you are smiling! Good, I don’t know what should I do if you actually continue throwing a tantrum.”

“I- I am not! I am not a kid, Takao-chin!” sulked Murasakibara again. And that leaves Takao laughing again.

“Come on, hurry with your eating, I want to continue playing,” suddenly, Aomine stood up and ruffles Takao’s hair. Shocked by that, the others look at the blue Devil. After a few steps, Aomine turns around. “Takao didn’t play with us yet. It’s no fun if you didn’t play with us too.”

“Oh, right! Takaocchi, you forced Kurokocchi to play with us, but you quietly did the job! No fair!”

“Yes, they are right. I still have my revenge for what you did, Takao-kun,” said Kuroko with his hands are like pistols, shooting him. Blankly, Takao looks at each one of them.

“And this time, I will make sure you are the sly one -nanodayo,” added Midorima, referring to his talks with Takao before.

“Oh, you guys were playing like when we are children? I want to join~!” said Murasakibara, his voice is absolutely excited.

Can’t help but feeling fluttered, Takao laughs again. “What’s with you guys…”

~~~

Murasakibara gathers some amount of the water, merging them to several small balls, and then makes them surround he and Takao. Aomine on the other hand, making a big shield surrounds him and Kuroko. In this tag game they are playing, Takao and Kuroko are the King, and the Devils need to either protect their King or attack the other King. Well, Murasakibara and Kise decides to do the offence strategy, while Midorima and Aomine is defense-but-attack-when-you-see-a-chance.

Well, this has continues for such a long time now, but they still can’t say the winner.

“I see you have learn to control your balls, Murasakibara. Have you practised them while we are not around -nanodayo?” asked Midorima, staring curiously at the balls, knowing that if he touches them, they will explode greatly.

“How did you know that, Mido-chin? Well, I don’t want to be scold by Aka-chin again for losing control of my power…” replied the Gluttony, moving his balls around, making him and Takao ‘trapped’ inside a circle. “Oh, and Takao-chin, don’t touch them, okay?”

“Even if you say so… my instinct tells me danger from the start already, Murasakibara,” laughed the human, who is sitting on a tall rock behind the Devil. “Kise, are you okay?” asked him while he looks below him. The yellow Devil, which is a little farther than the other two, nods.

“Why, of course! I can’t wait to win this game!”

“Hah! Dream on, Kise. You have to defeat me in order to get Tetsu!”

“Well, you have to defeat us in order to get to Takaocchi, Aominecchi~” said him playfully. He then winks at the human, feeling great with what he just said. Takao can’t help but laugh again.

“Hn. You guys only focus on what you can see. You need to focus on what you can’t see too,” said Midorima, gathering some of the water, but unlike Murasakibara, he turns the water to be spears. A sharp one too.

“Wait wait wait, you want to attack me with those sharp-looking things, Shin-chan?!”

“I thought I said it already. The time when you watched us played, was a child play. I would like to see this as a practice for war -nanodayo.”

“Oh, I see you are getting rather excited about this, Midorima-kun,” smiled Kuroko, who is sitting like Takao, but his chair is a bit far from both of his soldiers. “Well, enough chatting I suppose. Midorima-kun, please then.”

The green nods. “My pleasure.” and all of the water spears then charge at Takao.

“I’m counting on you, Murasakibara!” laughed Takao again. The Gluttony nods, while making sure that his balls protect the King from the spears. Takao then winks at Kise too, giving him signals to attack. The Lust grins excitedly, he makes some big water balls and tosses it on the enemies. All of them then successfully counter it by making shields.

At that point, Midorima sees an opening at Murasakibara’s protection, and immediately charges at the hole himself. Murasakibara, shocked by that, immediately attacks Midorima with his water balls, but unfortunately, Aomine takes that opportunity to throw Midorima’s water spear at him. Cannot comprehend with the situation, the purple decided to protect himself more.

“Mine-chin, you cheater…!!” glared Murasakibara, greeting his teeth. “Using such a cheap surprise attack…!”

“Oh, well. War didn’t care those details.”

“As expected, Aomine. Keep him busy for me -nanodayo.”

“Don’t give me orders, I take them from Tetsu only.”

“Hey hey, seriously, arguing with your teammate now, when you are at the enemy’s base? Shin-chan, you really surprised me today,” smirked Takao, getting aware of the Devil which is now inside of his safe circle. Well, it’s not safe anymore.

Midorima turns to him, smiling shortly. “I’d like to keep this simple. Surrender yourself, Takao.”

“Eh?! No way, I don’t want to surrender myself without a fight here!”

“Hn, mark your words -nanodayo.”

“Shin-chan, you have been pretty soft on me, huh…” smiled the human softly.

“What…”

“Urm… I surrender.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Then, at the same time, all of the Devils look at Kuroko. Troubled by how things turned out, Kuroko said it again. “I surrender. Please keep that away from me, Takao-kun.”

Behind the Goddess, there is Takao, holding both of Kuroko’s hand in his right hand while his left hand is holding Kuroko’s neck. In his palm, there is a sharp stone, pointing at the Goddess’s neck. “Oh really? I thought you will put up a little effort here…”

“I am sorry, but that thing is dangerous even for me. Moreover, you had lock my hands and legs too.”

“What the Hell?! Oi, Midorima! What are you doing?!” shouted Aomine, feeling confused by the situation. Murasakibara has calm down, he is standing against the rock, which Midorima and Kise is at the top.

“How- Kise?!”

“Yes, it’s me~! Good job, Takaocchi! I never thought your plan would really work!”

“Hey, that’s rude. What do you take me for?” laughed Takao, releasing Kuroko from his hands. Relieved, the Goddess smile a little. “Takao-kun, you are really great. I didn’t notice your presence at all.”

“Why, it took a lot of works, but thank you~”

“Come on, someone explain this to us!” snarled Aomine, frustrated that he really lost the game which he usually wins. “I don’t get it!”

Takao laughs before he takes a dive into the waterfall. After a while, he comes to the surface again. “Come here first. I want to take a rest…”

“Eh?! Geez, you just played for half an hour and you are already tired? Human really are a weak being…”

“Hahahaha don’t blame me. I never play tag with powers before, okay,” he said while sitting at the shore. “Well, I guess we just use some illusion, and that’s all, right Kise?”

Kise nods. “Hmm~ Well, you guys remember when I tossed those big balls to you? I chanted those a little to make some illusion.”

“And that allowed you to see Kise as me, and me as Kise. The opportunity you Devils saw, is just a trap to lure you from Kuroko~ After that, I only need to silently sneak in behind Kuroko, and make him surrender! Game over!” continued Takao, before he lays at the ground. “Ahhh I am tired…”

“What?! That’s not fair, you used illusion, Kise!” said Aomine, splashing water at the yellow. Midorima avoids it by jumping down besides Murasakibara. “Hey! Midorimacchi, you should tell me before Aominecchi attacks me!”

“What are you saying, Mine-chin… You said war didn’t care about those details, right?” smirked Murasakibara. Aomine turns his glare at the giant, feeling that he lost greatly this time.

“Ah!” Takao shouted, pointing his hand to the sky. “And Shin-chan said he wanted to see this as a war, so I only did the most I can.” and then he laughs, knowing that was Midorima’s favourite line to say, though he never say that in front of Takao. The human knows this from Kuroko and Kise of course.

“My apologies, Kuroko. I lost sight of protecting you -nanodayo,” said Midorima to Kuroko. Kuroko on the other hand, smiles meaningfully. “It’s okay, Midorima-kun. We did lose to them, it’s not entirely your fault I got threatened to surrender myself.”

Then, Aomine comes to him too, saying sorry that he didn’t protect him until the last drop of blood. Well, Aomine can’t accept his loss, so of course he wants another match. Unfortunately, Takao is too tired to move from that place now, so he refuses. While the number is unbalanced now, Midorima too, says that he wants to take a break.

He sits beside Takao, looking at the four fighting, before looking at Takao again. “You did a good job, Takao. Are you a strategist in war actually?” The human laughs, moving his body to face the green Devil. All of those water dripping from the Devil, somehow it makes him looks sexier, Takao can’t help but stares for a moment. “Takao…?”

“Haha yeah, no way. I am just a normal teenager, Shin-chan. I play games, and we need strategies to win those,” said Takao, feeling sleepy and more tired now. The weather is cooling down, but not so cold for him. It’s just nice.

“Hey, don’t sleep here, Takao. Takao, wake up -nanodayo,” said Midorima, shaking Takao’s shoulder, waking him from his slumber.

“Hnn… Shin-chan, I am tired. Leave me alone…”

“At least don’t sleep here, you idiot. You will catch a cold. You human are sensitive to the tiny bit things after all.” Shaking his head, Midorima gives up. The human is stubborn, like their Goddess. Didn’t think of another way, he lifts the human in his arms and brings him to the shadowed place. It is near their barbecue place.

He places Takao besides him, and then sits quietly for not wanting to wake the human up. Suddenly, he remembers Kise’s words when he was Takao. ‘You have been pretty soft on me, huh…’

Is it true? Did he really have gone soft on Takao? He does not know the meaning of it… but he did bring the human here so that he won’t catch a cold. He even carefully lifted him, and slowly places him here.

‘I don’t like to do something silently, you see…’ was what Takao said to him earlier. Well, look at you now. Sleeping peacefully, maybe even dreaming happily while I am here stuck in my own thoughts.

‘But what I am scared of the most is… if my lover will give up on me.’ and that moment he really lost it. He can’t help but wanting to hug the human, to calm him down. He don’t want to see such a painful smile again. So when Murasakibara told them the story, when he said he wanted to crush the smile, Midorima immediately understands him. He wants to wipe that smile off too.

And so… what I said is true, after all. Aomine imagined you as the True Lord, which is from this dimension. And in this dimension… there is only me who has the brightest green of all. So I have no doubt that the human me will fall to you. But the problem is…

“I fall to the human you. Who are you in this dimension, I don’t even meet that you yet,” muttered Midorima. He feels like he has come upon a new burden, but then, he felt relieved at the same time too. Such a complicated feeling.

“Umm… Shin-chan?” that voice startled him, making him turned to the human immediately. Takao too, looks surprised when he is startled. “You- You okay? I heard you sighed…”

Midorima stares at him blankly. “It’s nothing -nanodayo. How are you anyway? Still sleepy?”

‘How can I still sleeping when I overheard that… stupid Shin-chan,’ he thought. Shaking his head, he answers jokingly. “I can’t sleep peacefully like this. I need a bed, a pillow, and a comfy-”

“In other words, you need to be spoiled before you can sleep forever.”

“Hey! I am not sleeping forever!”

The Devil smirks a little, before he falls to silent again. He turns his look to the others, while Takao nervously glances at him for a while. After a minute or so, finally he calls for the Devil. “Shin-chan…”

“What is it?”

“How am I when I was an Angel?”

“You are beautiful, I guess. But I doubt that is an Angel. You could be a Goddess like Kuroko that time -nanodayo.”

“Then, when I am a Devil? What did you think?”

Midorima didn’t answer him immediately like before, but this time he shuts up for a second… before he turns his look at Takao, staring straight inside the human’s gray eyes. Yet, even those eyes caught him off-guard. “You were stunning.”

Takao was surprised by that, it takes him a while to fully understand what Midorima just said, but then he can’t help but averts his eyes. His face feels like it’s burning…

“Shin… Shin-chan,” called him again.

“What is it?”

“Can I… Can I touch your horns… your wings and tail?”

“Such a wish you make, Takao… Didn’t you touch yours earlier?” sighed the Devil, but still he lets out his wings for the human. Excitedly, Takao caresses the black and green wings of Midorima. “What’s so fun about them -nanodayo?”

“Hehehe… well I don’t have them, so I want to at least touch them… And I didn’t touch my own wings, Kuroko hugged them. They are unexpectedly like the skins, but… hmm, like, tougher? Hmm, what’s the right word… thicker?”

“Come to think of it, your soul is orange, isn’t it -nanodayo?” asked Midorima while he caresses Takao’s hair. Takao shakes his head lightly. “I don’t know about that. But I guess my tail and horns were orange back there.”

“Yeah. Those resembles your soul -nanodayo.”

“Hey, what about the horns? I felt like yours are different from mine?”

“Yours were the True Lord, of course it is different. Our horns are on it’s second last stage. It will grows like yours once we are connected with our spouse -nanodayo.”

“Eh~ so the True Lord is a very, very, very different than any other Devil? Like, they are really the top of the top? Wow, I am that True Lord for once hahaha this is funny.”

Midorima smiles shortly. “You are done with my wings right? I will hide them now -nanodayo.” And his wings are gone in a blink. Takao blinks in awe. He puts his hand to the back of Midorima and feels it. “What are you doing now?”

“Hmm… wow, the wings really disappear. Hey, why did you guys hide your wings? Those are awesome, you should just let them soar freely.”

“What are you talking about -nanodayo? Imagine if we had an enemy spying on us, first they will know we have wings to fly. That’s a bad news for us. Second, they can shoot or damage our wings if we always pop them out. When that happens, we can’t fly again until it recovers itself.”

Takao blinks again, getting the feelings that being the Devil is not that fun after all. “Eh… you can’t just use your magic to fasten their recovery?”

Midorima shakes his head. “No. They are like our organ, we can’t or we might destroy one or two of our cells. Basically, it’s a complicated things that we can’t meddle with -nanodayo,” Midorima stared at the human back, his hand touching the others’.

“Enough with my Devil, I want to know about your human, too -nanodayo,” said Midorima while he pulled Takao from his back. The human staggers to his knees, and his head completely falls into the Devil’s lap. Blankly, he blinks again. For a moment, they didn’t say anything, but Takao does not show any sign to sit up.

He grins happily, in fact. “But Shin-chan, you had ask me several questions before, when Kuroko was away. I thought you have had enough?”

“No, I want to know more about you, not about the human -nanodayo,” said Midorima, staring straight into Takao’s eyes. He knows that when he does that, the human will wavers and hides in embarrassment. The ever-talking Takao, falls to silent; Midorima loves that.

“The- Then, what do you want to know?” as expected, Takao averts his eyes, looking either at the sky or at the others, but not for long.

Midorima smiles for that. “I noticed that your body is well-build for someone who is 15 years-old. You did some sport, Takao?”

“Oh, wow. You noticed that? Some curious eyes you have there…” laughed Takao. “Well, I joined the basketball team in my school. It’s nothing special though… Only the usual workouts and plays… after that, they go home.”

“Well, you?”

“Huh?”

“How about you? After they go home, did you stay?”

For a moment, Takao didn’t say anything. He just looks at Midorima without a word… but of course, he breaks that with a small laugh. “Nah… I can’t just stay there. But every morning, I will run around the town, before I go to school.”

“Hey hey, what are you guys doing actually?” asked Kise, who just suddenly popped out besides Midorima. Sighing, the green Devil turns his face to the yellow, annoyed. “Woah, woah! What did I do?! Midorimacchi, that’s cold! Your eyes! Cold!”

Takao laughs hearing that. With a deep breath, he sits up from Midorima’s lap. After that, he noticed the others have stop playing and coming to them. And that, somehow makes him smile again.

“How is it? Having fun?”

Aomine laughs. “It’s really been a while the last time I let loose like that! Thank you, Takao!”

“Mine-chin is terrible though… You are lucky that Kuro-chin only punched you.”

“Yes, Aomine-kun. You should never, ever, ever again drown me.”

“Uhh… that was an incident, Tetsu! I’m sorry, okay?”

“Just what kind of game were you guys playing… not that it matters anyway- rather than that, Kuroko, you okay? Seriously, drowning?”

The Goddess nods with a smile. “Yes, Takao-kun. Thank you for asking,” the Goddess then looks at the Green and the human twice, before letting out a meaningful smile. “I am sure that most of us are tired already. It’s almost sunset now, do you want to go home?”

Takao glances at the others, they doesn’t look like they are tired at all… but I guess they have things to do after this, so they need to part here, huh? Smiling, Takao nods. “Yeah, I might sleep early tonight, Kuroko,” laughed him.

“What, usually you didn’t sleep early, Takaocchi? Kurokocchi?”

“Well, we spend time reading and chatting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Urm- Let me- ugh, no... Well, I have to actually 'be alive' for, uh.. maybe a week after this, so I need to stop uploading chapters for a while.. maybe, uh, a month? God, I am sorry... But this latest chapter is meant to soothe your feelings, I am sorry. I dont want to be alive... but..
> 
> Good luck, me...
> 
> And thank you for your continued supports, I love you guys. Seriously.


	11. It is time to clear the misunderstand!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guyssssss It has been so longggg I AM TERRIBLY SORRY!!! SO, please go ahead and read this to your heart content!
> 
> p/s: I've somehow lost my touch (GDI), so if I did a horrible work, tell me please. I will edit it right away.

“I was joking. I want to ask you something, Takao-kun.”

Takao blinks several times. He stops looking for a good book inside Kuroko’s shelves and focuses on the said Goddess. Face all weird but he still didn’t say anything.

“Please sit in front of me,” called Kuroko again. Takao follows his words.

“Kuroko, before you start,” Takao raises a finger. “This, this talk, has nothing to do with what Kise did earlier, right?”

Well, earlier, as much as Kuroko wanted to come home, Aomine and Kise still wanted to play just for a little bit longer. Seeing their pleading- no, excited faces, Takao can’t help but play with them a little longer. But before they did that, Kise asked to put some lotions on his body… and…

~~~

“Please? Your skin has tanned a little! As much as I like it, I still want to protect your appearance when you first came here, Takaocchi!” the yellow pleaded, grabbing his both hands in enthusiasm. Well, Takao doesn’t think much. Someone wants to help him, why not?

But this actually attracts the others’ attention. Because, Kise can just says some spells and the skin will be protected. Easy, simple, and fast! So why bother applying a lotion, which needs a longer time and a little energy?

“Oh, then Kise, can Kuroko wear it too? I want to apply it on Kuroko! His skin… well it’s not tanned, but I don’t feel right when it’s only me who got this… privilege?”

Kise absolutely nods to that, feeling more happy than ever. Well, Kuroko has his suspicion on Kise but not Takao, so he is okay with it. While Aomine and Murasakibara play near the river, Midorima watches over all of them and the other three do some apply-lotion-train. Haha

And of course, at first everything seems to be normal, Kise normally apply the lotion on Takao’s back and Takao does it on Kuroko’s back. But Midorima realizes there’s something different about Kise’s massage… they are… not normal?

“Takao-kun? Are you actually okay?” asked Kuroko after some time. Kise nods while Takao looks like he is spacing out a little. “Takao-kun?”

“Ah, yes… Yes, I am fine. So, I will go pla-”

“Takaocchi, come here I will do your front too!” said Kise, interrupting him. Takao, actually a little shocked by that, shakes his head with laughter. “I think I can do it by myself, Kise? It’s fine, really…”

“Oh, come on… I might don’t have any other chances to touc- to do this again, pretty please~?”

Sighing, he gives in. “Okay, here- you have it.” and he shows his bare front to Kise, who seems so happy about it. Then, his hand took some of the lotion and apply it on the human’s neck. Slowly, his hands crawl to Takao’s shoulder and chest… and Takao flinches.

“Hnn… Kise, your…!” Takao’s whining immediately makes him pushes Kise’s hand away. His face is embarrassed as tomatoes, and Kise can feels the hands are trembling.

“Kise-kun, I am angry.”

“Eh?”

And Kuroko punches Kise at his back, making the Devil surprised and lost his balance. He tripped and face stumbled on the hard ground. When he finally comes to it, in front of him, stand an unsatisfied Aomine, an angry Kuroko and a mad Midorima. While Murasakibara quietly soothes Takao to calm himself. Well, the human awkwardly laughs it off, as usual.

Of course, right. Kise has suffered a divine punishment. Especially from Kuroko and Midorima. Takao doesn’t know what they did to Kise, because Murasakibara kept him busy and they brought the yellow Devil away from him. By the time they have come back, Kise is worn out.

~~~

“To be honest, yes. It has something to do with what happened with Kise and you,” said Kuroko with his eyes staring deeply into Takao’s eyes. Takao flinches a little hearing it, but then Kuroko sees the awkward smile the human curves.

“Takao-kun,” called Kuroko again, with his hand asking Takao to come closer. Takao does that, and then Kuroko flicks his head. “Ow!” cried the human, backing away hurriedly, expecting another attacks from the Goddess. But instead, the Goddess hugs him tightly, locking Takao from going anyway.

“Ku… Kuroko-kun?” asked Takao when he saw Kuroko smiling. “I am confused. Are you actually mad at me or-”

“Do you love him?”

Shocked. That’s what happened now and both of them fell to silent. More like, Takao is the one who fells to the silent while Kuroko waits for him to answer. After some time, Kuroko heard Takao’s small laugh. “Do I love who?”

“Please don’t act like you do not know who I am talking about, Takao-kun.”

“Eh? Oh, is it Kise? Nah~ I like him but I don’t lov-”

“Takao-kun, please answer me seriously.”

Again, that painful expression is slightly mirrored inside of the gray eyes. “Kuroko, you are so stubborn, you know…”

“I am fully aware of that already, thank you,” smiled Kuroko. Takao, ears slightly turning red, avoids meeting Kuroko in the eye. But then, he still nods slightly. “I don’t know if this is called ‘love’. I don’t know why I feel this now either. I don’t even know him well. I haven’t meet the human him too! So- I just can’t say I love him, because this might not be-”

“So do you have feelings for him?” asked Kuroko, holding the human’s burning cheeks. The fragile guy wavers a little but Kuroko can see the glitters clearly inside of the gray eyes.

“I do… dammit,” whispered Takao, nodding slightly. He avoids Kuroko’s eyes but he just let whatever Kuroko does to him now.

Kuroko smiles meaningfully. “Do you remember what Kise-kun said to us this morning, Takao-kun?” Takao looks at him, nodding. Kuroko continues, “He will come at us today, but I am afraid you will have to go by yourself, Takao-kun.”

Takao’s eyes gotten bigger for a second, and then he just keeps his mouth shut to wait for Kuroko to finish his sentence. The Goddess smiles again. “Do you remember what I told you before? I am afraid of the lost soul’s reaction. I don’t want him to attack me. If that happens, who knows what will they decide to do to you too, Takao-kun.”

Takao stares at him after that. He doesn’t say a word but his eyes soften. “I get it~ Then, Kuroko, what are you going to do here, alone?” asked him with a bright smile again. Kuroko, like usual, not saying much, just a shake.

“I want to think about us.”

~~~

Takao looks around. His eyes do not focus on just one place, if he can, he wants to take pictures of every single thing that captures his eyes. His behaviour for a while now, finally makes the Devil laughs. With a gleaming face, Takao turns around.

“This is amaz-!” Takao blinked twice. Suddenly then, he can’t say a word at all. His tongue is coldly bound, he can’t even move an inch of it.

Just then, a servant walks pass by him. He is taller than him, has a small, yellow thorns and tails. Takao is sure every servants under Kise is going to be as elegant like this one- perfectly fit the name “Lust”.

“I see you are having fun today, my Lord,” said the servant, bowing his body to show his respect. Kise just smiles handsomely, and nods. “Of course. It’s been a while since I last met them. Usually we couldn’t even exchange words,” Kise glanced at Takao, who flinched a little after hearing that.

‘So I am not supposed to say a word, or the magic will break off,’ thought Takao.

“Today was a blast and I am totally enjoying ourselves. Now I just want to sleep in my room, so can you please tell the others that I don’t want to be bother? I will come down for dinner, of course.” Kise’s hand asking Takao to come near him, and Takao did. He holds Kise’s right little finger.

The servant nods, smiling. “Why, of course, my Lord. I hope you rest plenty.”

And Kise brings Takao out from there.

~~~

K-CHAK-

“That was dangerous, Takaocchi!!!” shouted Kise with laughter. “I thought it was GAME OVER!”

Takao laughs innocently too. He scratches his head a little, not feeling itchy actually. “Well, I thought it will cover my loud mouth too. I am sorry.”

“Nah~ It’s nothing. Thankfully I manage to bind your tongue- oh yes! Your tongue, is it okay?” asked Kise while he grabbed Takao’s chin and checked the tongue. “Oh, good. It’s fine. I really panicked earlier, so I thought maybe I might have hurt you.”

“Err, Kise?”

“Yes?”

Takao turns his face to the bed and Kise follows his eyes. “I think there is some misunderstand inside of his mind?”

“Eh? Why?! I just check your tongue!” Kise immediately turned pale. “Yukicchi, why are you mad?!”

“Haa?! I am not!” the lost soul turned his face away. His grumpy face doesn’t match his words at all. He looks like he is pissed, and yet he took a glance at Takao. “Who are you, by the way? This Devil never bring anyone into this room before,” he asked. Kise sighs a little, and grabs Takao to Kasamatsu.

“Yukicchi, this is Takaocchi, a human.”

“What?! A human?”

“Yes~ I am Takao Kazunari, nice to meet you!”

“Takaocchi, this is the lost soul, Yukicchi-”

“I am not Yukicchi! I am Kasamatsu Yukio!”

“Ah, I thought so. Kasamatsu-san, you are older than me? I am 15,” Takao shows his hand, asking Kasamatsu to handshake him. And the lost soul does.

Though both of them actually flinch a little when their hands touch each others’.

“Yeah, I am older than you,” Kasamatsu let that be. “Good, don’t call me Yukicchi like this Devil, I feel like a fool.”

“What?! But you blush-”

“Shut up, Devil!” shouted Kasamatsu, punching Kise at the stomach. And there the Yellow is, clenching where Kasamatsu punched him. Takao tries his hardest to not laugh at the scenes at all, and he keeps remembering what did Kise told him and Kuroko this morning.

‘Ah… so this is how Kise will act when he is with someone he loves? There really isn’t much different…’ he thought, glancing all over the room. Yellow curtain, with white and blue colors in the room. Big, elegant, flashy. Yet, empty.

And then Takao stares at the other two. They are arguing. They are arguing but Takao sees their eyes are smiling. What a couple.

“Hey, Takao?” suddenly Kasamatsu calls him, making him blink several times. “What were you doing? Do you came here just to meet me?”

“Ah- that’s…” Kise stuttered.

“I believe Kise told you that Kuroko saved your life, right Kasamatsu-san?” said Takao while he sits on the bed too. Kasamatsu nods. “Well, I was there when we all found you. Kise wanted you to interact more- with human if possible, so he just brought me here.” Takao puts his arm around Kasamatsu’s shoulder, but then both of them feel the same pain again. That electrocute.

Both of their face turned puzzled. Immediately, Takao pulls his hand back and turns to Kise. “Hey, Kise…? Why is it that when I touch Kasamatsu-san, we both are electrocuted?”

Kise’s pupil turn bigger for a millisecond and his expression changes. “What do you mean electrocuted?”

“Like… Kasamatsu-san, can I touch your hand for a little bit?”

“Yeah, I am bothered by that too…” said Kasamatsu while he offers his hand to Takao. Kise, seeing that, turns pale and shouts, “No- Wait, don’t touch him!”

“Eh?” Takao and Kasamatsu turned to the Devil. It was too late. Takao’s finger has already touched Kasamatsu’s palm- and on that second, the lost soul slowly fades.

“...Eh?”

“No no no no no no, wait wait-!” shouted Kise, trying to reach for Kasamatsu as both of them look at each others in the eyes before Kasamatsu completely fades away.

Takao stood there, unknowing what to do or what to feel. What just happened- Kasamatsu-san, where did he go…? “Ki…se?” the terror he felt now keeps him trembling.

While Kise’s face is so pale, Takao almost thought he is with a doll- he looks like there is no blood gushing at all. Takao simply doesn’t know what to do now. “What… happened? Where is Kasamat…”

The fragile human didn’t finish his sentence, Kise rushes to that one big mirror and whispers something. In a blink of an eye, the mirror shows them the white scene. Takao, surprised by one thing after another, just stands there and watches what Kise watches.

“That is…”

There, inside of the mirror, seems like a patient who has just woke up and being surrounded by his family and friends. Watching that, Takao finally gets an idea and he just doesn’t know what to say anymore. From that point on, he felt like he is the reason why Kasamatsu faded away, just like that, without even preparing for it. He is the reason why Kise loses Kasamatsu now.

“Kise, I- I am sorr-”

“Hahaha…” Takao heard Kise’s laughter. A painful one.

“Nah, it’s okay... I know this day will come for sure, it’s just that…”

And then Kise remembers the face Kasamatsu made. His eyes seemed reluctant, but he was puzzled by what was going on. More like, he was afraid of what would happen to him. That eyes, like they are begging for him.

Wait.

Begging for what?

What could he…

“Ha..! Ack-!”

Takao stumbles upon his knees. After just one millisecond, he feels weird and sluggish all over. His body is all feverish, he can’t stand anymore. He needs to use almost all of his energy left just to look at Kise, wanting to make sure the Devil is fine and all. Unfortunately, the Lust seems to be spacing out. He didn’t realize that the whole room is now fulled with his aura.

Suddenly, the main door is knocked hard. “Young Master! Young Master, what happened?! Please, open the door!”

‘Those are his servants… this is bad, I need to hide…!’ Takao tries to move his knees, but then all of the movements make his clothes rub his skin, making him feels more weird. He shudders when suddenly, Kise’s aura get thicker. “I need to… hide!”

“Good grief, what is he doing, this dumbass…”

Takao turns to the familiar voice. “Ao…mine…!”

It’s no use…! I tremble every time I try to say something, what’s worst, all of this sensation makes my… “Ha…! Ah, ngghhh!!” Feeling so hopeless, Takao starts to cry a little.

“Hey, don’t push yourself.”

“Don’t… touch me!”

Aomine frowns on hearing that. He turns to Kise, who is still ‘not’ here. The Greed groaned for a while and slowly he walks behind Kise. Not saying anything, he strongly kicks Kise from behind, and that makes the yellow Devil thrown to the bed. After that, Aomine unleashes his aura and surrounds Kise. Takao can barely watches all of this because he feels like he will lose his strength if he ever focuses on something too much.

“Ah… and I was wondering when will you show up.”

Who is it now?

“Shut up.”

“Heh. You should thank me. Or you won’t ever see him at all.”

It’s no good. I can’t think straight at all.

“I really let him took you because you asked me to believe in you. Well, it’s a different matter now,” the devil whispered to his ear.

“Don’t… m-me… please!” Takao shuddered in pleasure. He thought this is so embarrassing, he tries to cover his face and the tears just won’t stop flowing.

Th Pride ignores what the human said and just holds the human in his arms. “Because you cried- nanodayo.”

~~~

He blinks a little. Slowly, he looks at his surrounding. White… Green… “Hn…” he grunted while he tried to move a finger. It hurts. It soars. Then, maybe realizing his groans, those familiar figures come into his view. They are worried. They are relieved. Watching them smiling, Kasamatsu couldn’t fight the urge to smile back.

“Really, you… What would you do if you can’t play your basketball again?” asked the mother. Kasamatsu tries to shake his head. Slowly, he regains his memory, in which he saved someone or something, but then he got hit with a car instead. So… now he is in a hospital. The doctors saved his life…

“Mother, I feel like… I was living the whole time…” he tries to speak. It’s slow. It’s hard. And the medicine is still taking control over his numb body. Slowly, his eyes are closed, leaving mumbling for his mother to hear.

“I met… him.”

~~~

Himuro stares at the ground. His eyes are dead, his mind wanders somewhere without a soul. For a long while now, his hand is still in the same position and he didn’t move an inch at all. It is already almost afternoon.

“Err, Himuro-kun, are you alright?” asked an elder there. All of them are worried about Himuro since he never act like this before. Himuro has always been a good gentleman, saying only the good words and hardly raise his voice with others. He always does his works while helping others’ works too. He always helps others, but the kind demon never asks for others’ help.

“Himuro-kun?”

Himuro flinches a little. For a second, he seems clueless and lost. “Yes, I am sorry, what did you said to me?”

The elder shakes his head, follow by others. “I said, maybe you should take a break, Himuro-kun.”

“Eh?”

Oh no. What is he doing? He can’t just lost in his own thoughts and slack off! No…

“No, we know what are you going to say, but please, Himuro-kun, please take a break. Leave all the works to us today.”

“But I can’t-”

“Yes! You have always help us, so for today, let us help you!”

“But,” he stuttered.

“No buts, young man. Go sort your problems and go back to your home.” The elders smile at him, showing them how much they want to help Himuro, and just by that, all his doubts slowly fade away.

“I… I am sorry, and thank you. I will come back as fast as I could! Thank you!” he finally said it while running to his house. After grabbing a lantern, he runs lightly to his real home. In the jungle.

The jungle has always been a warning to the citizens in this world. No one is allowed to go in there. Even the most experienced devil will avoid walking or maybe, just stepping a leg in it. Once you are lost, you will lost forever.

It’s not that the thickness of the jungle is what scares the people. It’s not because of the puzzling ways either. But because the jungle is surrounded with magic traps, which still becomes a wonder for them.

Who did them? Who enchanted them? Why did they do it?

We do not know. Himuro does not know the reasons why only him can go in there freely and comes back home safe and sound too. The magic the people around him fear of, it did not affects on him at all. That’s why when he was a kid, he did not believe there are magics in the forest.

“Tatsuya?” asked someone followed by a sound of wings. Himuro looks ahead with a bright smile. His already fast walks change it’s pace. “Woh-woah, don’t run like that!” again, the voice spoke up.

“Taiga! I really miss you…” said Himuro while hugging him. He does not know why, but every time he does that, he feels so at ease, so calm, so reassuring. Well, maybe because he has known Kagami from the very moment he opened his eyes.

“What are you talking about when just met each other yesterday?” smirk Kagami, with his wings flapped a few times. Realizing the flapping, Himuro stares at the wings. “Did you hurt yourself again? You keep flapping those big wings of yours.”

Himuro’s hands then travel at the black angel’s wings just to find nothing scars them after all. Not even a scratch. “I find nothing though…?”

“Hng… of course. I am not hurt at all in the first place… now stop running your hands on my wings! They are ticklish!” again, he flipped those wings. Himuro laughs, knowiing how sensitive the wings can get. “Say, Himuro, why did you come here so early? You never come around this hour…”

“Well, brother, you know me so well,” smiled Himuro, who Kagami saw that smile as painful smile. Immediately, he prepares his heart to listen truly. Kagami is a good listener, after all.

“You see, I met my odd master, a Gluttony Devil… Atsushi.”

“You called him without any honor-”

“It seems that he does not like his title as our Devil, so I dropped the -sama, or any honorific to make he feels at ease. Anyway… I think I love him,” said Himuro while smiling bashfully. Kagami, unsurprisingly just stares at Himuro without question. Himuro then laughs and explains to his brother every thing that happened between him and the Devil. Sometimes Kagami will interrupted, but that’s only when he seriously can’t imagine things.

“And, so… I got angry and scolded him… I can’t forget his face- he was so hurt, I immediately felt guilty, but before I could cool my head down, I chased him out…” Himuro gritted his teeth, feeling miserable than ever. “Oh, God, how could I do that…” sighed him, deep.

“I don’t really get it, but if you guys got into a fight because of you, then you have to apologize, right?”

“But, Taiga, I chased him out. I told him to not go to my house again…”

“Can’t you just go and meet him? Those rules that the first Gluttony did, what’s his name again…”

“Murasakibara Atsushi?”

“Ha, that Murasakibara guy, he is the recent ruler. He himself does not approve of the rule, I mean, he went to the village?”

“Taiga, you are not suggesting me to go beyond the door, right?” Himuro stares at his brother, who averts his eyes in nervous.

“I didn’t actually say that, did I…”

Himuro laughs. “What… I am just being nice here,” Kagami pouts.

“Yes, yes. Thank you. I will see what I can do after this. So, I might not come here tonight, are you okay with that?”

Kagami laughs and grins to this. “Come on, I am not a kid anymore.”

“Yeah, I know that. But Taiga, will you be fine if I am not here anymore? I mean, I think the actual reason he came yesterday was because of the work proposal…”

“Do you want to work with him, Tatsuya?”

Himuro looks at Kagami in the eyes. His gray-black eyes meet the ever red eyes of Kagami without a word. Kagami knows that look. He knows the meaning.

“I can trust him if you trust him. I can give you to him if the time has come. I don’t like to be the reason you put your desire in second place. Tatsuya, do you want to work with him?”

Himuro smiles again, weakly. “This is why everyone says you are too kind. If I leave you here, then what will you do…?”

“Don’t worry, I will find my own life!” grinned Kagami. His idiotic smile soothes Himuro’s heart once again.

“Bakagami,” he whispered.

“What?! Hey!!”


End file.
